The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise
by Mnkjango
Summary: It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. Rated T for violence, heavily AU. A partial rewrite of the Sequel Trilogy, beginning about halfway through The Last Jedi (but with changes that take place beforehand), in which I attempt to fix most of the problems I had with the Sequels. If you liked the Sequels, you don't need to read this. Full list of changes inside. No romance.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Before we begin, I would like to provide a list, for clarity, of all the changes I have made to the lore of the Sequel Trilogy to both support the story I want to tell here and to make the story make more sense to begin with and be less terrible.**

**I'm taking an idea from Literature Devil, a Youtuber, and replacing Rey's missing parents with a Jedi master who left her for an undisclosed reason before she had been fully trained, which explains her fighting skills, technical knowledge, and base skill with the Force, but also explains why she still is not fully trained and needs Luke to train her. As for the identity of the master… you'll see.**

**Another idea I'm taking from LD's video: Rey lost the fight with Kylo on Starkiller Base. Since they were separated by a conveniently placed fissure anyway, it doesn't change much, it just makes Kylo seem more competent.**

**The Resistance ships are _not_ remaining out of range of the First Order cruisers because they are smaller and lighter (in space). They are faster and have more powerful engines, but since they have low fuel, they can't go too fast or risk using it up, so they strafe the edge of the destroyers' attack range while trying to come up with a plan.**

**Holdo did not withhold her plan from Poe because that was stupid and she had literally no reason to do so. But they still sent Finn, Rose and BB-8 onto Snoke's destroyer (we're skipping Casinoland and the animal rights subplot) in order to jam the destroyers' sensors, allowing the escape pods to make it to Crait without being targeted. Consequently, they're still captured and brought to Phasma to be executed, minus the hacker dude because they never picked him up (they get caught because BB-9e spotted them, like in the movie).**

**Kylo never destroyed his helmet. I get it was supposed to be symbolic, but it was also unnecessary and just another frustrating 'fuck you' from Rian Johnson to the audience.**

**Palpatine is _dead_. Not coming back. That was stupid. You can probably guess based on the title who will be the main antagonist in his stead.**

**I would also like to point out that if you liked the Sequels, this story is not for you. I respect your opinion, but this is a fic for those who did **_**not**_ **like them and wanted to see something they thought was better.**

**Alright, I think that's it. Now, we can get to the story. Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Rey hadn't been in many awkward situations in her life, but she was fairly certain that if she had to list potential situations from most to least awkward, she would place 'stuck in an elevator with someone who'd tried to kill you several times' fairly high up on that list.

She turned to glance at Ben again, trying to see if she could tell what he was thinking or feeling. But his helmet completely covered his face, hiding any emotion he might have been experiencing. She saw his head turn slightly in her direction, and she quickly glanced away, staring at the small holes in the elevator that allowed her glimpses of the lights embedded into the elevator shaft as they passed them. The silence was oppressing, and Rey almost felt like she couldn't breathe.

"You don't have to do this, Ben," she finally said, unable to stand the silence any longer. "Please." She turned to look at him at the same time he turned to look at her, and she could tell their eyes were locking even through his visor. There was a moment of silence. "Yes," he finally said, his voice sounding slightly echoey through his helmet's vocoder, "I do." He turned away again, and the silence was back as quickly as it had left. Rey felt despair settle in her stomach. There had to be some way out of this, right?

Before she could pursue that thought any further, the elevator ground to a halt, and the doors opened. The first thing she noticed was that the room beyond had quite a bit of red in it, a crimson the color of blood.

The second thing she noticed was the massive throne immediately opposite the elevator, and the man on it. He wore an orange robe, which sharply contrasted with his gray skin. His face was heavily scarred, and his eyes locked onto hers and seemed to tear through her straight to her soul. An involuntary shiver ran though her body. She knew instantly that this was the Supreme Leader she had heard Ben speak of, and not just because he was sitting on a throne. Even with her limited training, she could feel the cold aura of the Dark Side rolling off him in waves. She jumped slightly when she suddenly felt Ben grab her arm and march her out of the elevator and into the room, the doors shutting behind her. Now that she was actually in the room, she could see the roof was transparent, giving her a view of the massive fleet of Star Destroyers above them keeping pace with the ship.

Ben stopped her a few feet before the throne and pushed her to her knees, then let go of her arm and stepped back a bit. Rey stared at the floor, shivering slightly as she felt Snoke's gaze on her, studying her. "So," he said finally, "this is the girl that has caused so much trouble." Silence. Rey maintained her gaze on the floor. She wouldn't give Snoke the satisfaction of seeing the fear in her eyes.

"Bring me her lightsaber," he continued, speaking to Ben. Silently, she heard him walk over to his master and hand him Luke's saber before moving back to stand next to her crouching form.

Kylo Ren watched as his master examined the saber with mild interest(_His grandfather's lightsaber_, a small part of his mind whispered with a mix of intrigue and trepidation). "So… this is the lightsaber that once belonged to the Chosen One," Snoke said to no one in particular. "Tell me… how did a scavenger such as yourself come into possession of such a relic?" He placed the saber on the arm of his throne and turned to the girl kneeling before him. Kylo tried to ignore his pang of sympathy for her; it wasn't that long ago that he had knelt there in fear, bracing himself for his master's wrath at his failure to stop the destruction of Starkiller Base. Rey remained silent, and Snoke appeared to be agitated by this. "Look at me, girl." He felt it as his master reached out with the Force and pushed Rey's head up to look at him. "I have many questions for you," Snoke continued, leaning back in his chair with a grin. "And you will answer them for me."

Kylo saw as Rey masked her fear with a look of defiance, and he begrudged her a small amount of respect for the attempt. "I won't tell you anything," she said. His master's grin only widened. "Then I will take the answers from you." He raised his hand, and Rey suddenly rose up into the air, her body turning until she was staring up at the ceiling. A look of pain crossed her face, and Kylo was reminded of his interrogation of her on Starkiller Base, how he had pried at her mind only to find her pushing back with what little training she had, catching him off guard long enough for her to enter his mind and pull a single thought to the surface.

It wouldn't be like that with Snoke. Even if she had had training equal to Kylo's, her defenses would crumble before the sheer raw power his master possessed. He would know; he had been punished for failure many times this way, for wounds to the mind were more powerful and lasted longer than any physical pain. So he knew, with aching clarity, exactly what she felt now, her mind beaten again and again by wave after wave of Force. Only this time, his master was doing more than attacking a mind. He was pulling at it, forcefully ripping thoughts and memories from it so he could observe them himself.

Kylo's hands clenched into fists by his side as Rey continued to scream, her cries of pain accompanied by Snoke's laughter.

/

Vice Admiral Holdo gazed out the window of the bridge at the fleet of First Order ships pursuing them, concern creasing her features. Behind her, Poe Dameron gripped the holotable so hard his knuckles were white, and his face had a similar expression. When he spoke, though, his voice was steady. "Admiral, we just need to give them a little more time," he said. "I have faith in them." Holdo turned to respond, but before she could say anything, someone else did.

"We're out of time, Captain," Leia said from her seat nearby. Poe turned to the recently reawakened general with an expression of desperation on his face. "General, we can't give up on them." Leia gave a weary sigh. "As much as I want to believe in Finn, we can't afford to wait for them any longer. We have to assume they've failed, or we would have heard from them by now." She looked up and met eyes with Poe and Holdo. "We have to launch the transports now, and hope they're too small to register on the fleet's sensors."

"But-" Poe began, but stopped when he realized she was right. He gave a sigh. Leia turned to Holdo. "Give the order to evacuate." Holdo nodded and turned to a nearby console. Pressing a button, she spoke into the ship's intercom. "This is Admiral Holdo. All personnel, please evacuate to the transport ships immediately."

Instantly, everyone on the bridge began hurriedly packing up their stations and heading for the doors. Holdo turned once more to the window, staring at the _Supremacy_ in the center of the fleet, as if she could see Finn and Rose from hundreds of kilometers away. _Where are you?_ She thought, concerned.

/

"I think it's safe to say we're in trouble," Finn whispered to Rose as they were marched down the hall, their hands bound behind their backs. "Yeah, no kidding," Rose replied. She sounded like she was trying not to cry, and Finn decided to try and calm her down. "Hey," he said, "We'll get out of this." Rose turned to look at him. "How?" she asked. Finn wanted to say that BB-8, who he'd noticed had avoided capture, would help them, but if he said anything, one of the stormtroopers escorting them would probably hear and send a search party after the droid. Not to mention he didn't know what BB-8 could do to help anyway.

So instead he said, "We'll figure something out." He gave her a reassuring smile, but she didn't seem convinced and turned away. Finn's smile dropped as he looked forward again. _C'mon, little buddy_, he thought, _figure something out_.

In a maintenance vent running alongside the hallway, BB-8 kept pace with the group as quietly as possible. His processor raced as he tried to think of a rescue plan. He didn't have any weapons, at least none that were effective against stormtroopers. Even if he did, rolling in and trying to take on a whole squad of troops was not the best course of action, to put it lightly. He could find an access port and try to close the blast doors around them, but he didn't know what he'd do from there that wouldn't hurt Finn and Rose as well as the troopers.

His thoughts were halted as they arrived at a sealed set of doors. The lead trooper opened them, and BB-8, peering through the vent between him and the main hall, could only see a transparent forcefield that revealed only space beyond. A hangar.

The group walked inside, and the doors shut behind them. Turning from the vent, BB-8 saw an exit to the vent and rolled cautiously forward. Extending his scomp link, he opened the hatch to see that it was thankfully surrounded by supply crates on all but one side. He rolled eagerly out, the hatch shutting behind him. He peered around the crate carefully and froze.

The hangar was absolutely filled with stormtroopers. He couldn't even see Finn and Rose anymore. Why in the galaxy were there so many troopers here? A sarcastic thought about his friends' popularity popped into his head, but he pushed it out. This wasn't a time for jokes. He needed to find a way to take on a whole hangar of troopers, but first he needed a way to see Finn and Rose without being spotted.

Looking around, he noticed, high above, a catwalk that ran the length of the hangar, and led to a vehicle platform. It was mostly empty, but there were few vehicles docked…

An idea popped into his head. Slowly, his sensor dish emerged from his domed head, and he began scanning for a way up to the catwalk….

/

Kylo could practically feel it as Rey was dropped with a dull _thud_ onto the floor, and he couldn't help it when he winced slightly. Shaking, Rey rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself to her knees, glaring up at Snoke, who was still grinning.

"So… Skywalker found the first Jedi Temple after all…" Snoke rumbled. "On Ach-To…." Rey's expression changed to one of panic. "We will deal with him in due time. But first…" Snoke turned his gaze to Kylo, and despite years of being under that gaze, he still couldn't help the slight shiver that ran down his spine. "Apprentice," Snoke said, "You have failed, time and again, to deal with this girl, and you have allowed her to find Skywalker. You will now correct your mistake. Draw your lightsaber."

Ren, already knowing what he was being asked to do, took his saber from his belt and ignited it, the blade crackling to life before the crossguard followed suit a moment later. "You will kill the girl," Snoke finished. "This is your final test. Strike her down, remove all weakness, and you will have at last completed your training." Ren stepped in between the throne and Rey and turned to look at her. She looked up at him pleadingly. "Ben, please, don't," she said, sounding a bit desperate. "We have a bond… there must be a reason…"

"Foolish girl," Snoke leered, "It was _I_ who forged the bond between you two, so that I might lure you here and discover Skywalker's location." Rey's expression changed from despair to surprise, and Kylo couldn't help but feel the same. His master hadn't told him that, but maybe that would have interfered with the plan. After all, if he had known, she might have been able to tell she was walking into a trap. "Now that I know where he is," Snoke continued, "I have no further use for you."

Internally, Kylo began to feel uncertain. "Supreme leader," he said carefully, turning to his master, "perhaps it would be better to turn her to our cause. She is strong in the Force… she could be a valuable ally." Snoke sat back in his throne, seeming to think about it for a moment, though Kylo knew it was only for show. "I have no use for a second apprentice," he said after a moment. "You will kill her, and you will do it now." Kylo turned back to Rey, who was once again pleading silently. He knew he should not hesitate in striking her down, but something in her gaze froze him, preventing him from moving his arm. _This is ridiculous_, he thought with frustration. He barely knew this girl, and she'd caused him nothing but trouble, besides. He should have had no problem killing her where she kneeled, and yet… maybe it was their bond that stayed his hand, keeping him from raising his blade, but whatever the reason, he couldn't bring himself to kill her.

"Apprentice," Snoke said from behind him, and though his voice seemed calm, Kylo could hear the annoyance beneath the words, "If you do not have the strength to kill a simple girl, then you do not deserve to be my apprentice." Now anger flashed through his mind. Anger at Snoke, who had spent years lying to him and manipulating him, punishing him with agony for every small infraction, every simple mistake. An idea, forged in the fiery embers of his rage, appeared and took hold within his mind. He knew what he needed to do. Silently, carefully, he reached out with the Force, moving as slowly as he could to keep his master from noticing, hoping he was too focused on watching him.

"He won't do it," Kylo heard Rey say, and he saw her look past him at Snoke, that defiant look present in her eyes once more, despite her obvious shaking. He heard his master laugh. "Fool," he said, "I see inside his mind. I know what he will do. I see it… he takes his blade, readies it… and strikes, his true enemy!"  
_Now_. He constricted his grip with the Force, and behind him he heard the saber ignite, followed by a surprised gasp from Snoke. He turned, with a sort of wary excitement, to see his master speared through his midsection by his uncle's lightsaber. Pulling on it with the Force, it flew from the arm of the throne, and Snoke's torso tumbled off his legs onto the floor. The saber flew past his outstretched hand, but he hadn't intended to take it himself. Behind him, he heard Rey catch the saber and stand up. He turned to look at her, and a silent conversation occurred between them. There was only one way out of here, and they had to fight together to get to it. They turned their backs to each other, facing separate halves of the throne room, as the Praetorian Guards advanced on them angrily…

And froze as he heard, impossibly, Snoke laughing.

Kylo turned back to the throne to see Snoke lift himself with the Force off the ground, and back onto his lower half, and watched, with growing horror, as the two halves seemed to reconnect to each other. Behind him, he heard Rey gasp, clearly feeling equally horrified. In moments, the wound the lightsaber had inflicted was gone completely, with no sign it had ever been there. Even the robe was unscathed, somehow. The whole time, Snoke had been laughing. Now he spoke.

"Foolish boy," he said gleefully. "Did you think I was so blind that I could not see what you intended?" Kylo stared at him. "_Impossible_," he breathed. Snoke laughed again. "You are not the first apprentice to kill me, boy." Kylo continued staring, the words trying and failing to register. Snoke had never had another apprentice… had he?

He watched as Snoke gestured to the guards, who had been slowly advancing on Rey and Kylo, and they returned to their positions around the edges of the room. "Tell me something, children," his master said, clearly enjoying every second of terror from the pair before him. His words held the weight of a great revelation, and though Kylo wasn't sure what it was, he knew it was something terrible.

"Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rey stood completely frozen in the throne room, trying to make sense of both the events that had happened around her in the past couple minutes and the whirlwind of emotions that had accompanied them.

Pain as she was interrogated by Snoke.

Panic as he ordered Kylo o kill her, and as it looked more and more like he might actually do it.

Relief as he instead killed Snoke and gave her back her lightsaber, and prepared to fight beside her.

And terror as Snoke shrugged off being cut in half like a paper cut and healed himself.

And now Rey stood there, lightsaber drawn, an incredulous and terrified look on her face as she tried to process Snoke's question. "...What?" She asked, because honestly, that was all she could ask. She had assumed he'd kill her, and maybe Ben as well, and be done with it. Instead, he'd called off his guards, and asked her about some story. Distantly, she thought the name sounded familiar, but she couldn't recall where she'd heard it at the moment.

Snoke sighed, though he was smiling broadly. "I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise, he could influence the Midichlorians to create life. He could even keep those he cared about from dying. He was so powerful, he believed he was destined to rule the Galaxy. But he made one, single, mistake. He taught his apprentice much of what he knew, foolishly believing he could trust him. But, as all Sith do eventually, he betrayed his master, killing him in his sleep."

Now Rey remembered where she'd heard the name. Her master had told her of all the various Sith Lords that had lived and died to warn her about the dangers of the Dark Side. Not much was known about him, he'd said, only that he had been the Emperor's Sith master and that he'd been killed by Sidious so he could claim the title of Sith master. Rey was brought out of her reverie as Snoke continued her story.

"But the apprentice, too, made a mistake. He assumed that what he had been taught was everything his master knew, and that his master's ability to prevent death did not extend to himself." At this Snoke leaned forward, his grin widening. "He was _wrong_."

"You're Darth Plagueis," Rey said, realizing the purpose of the story. "You're the Emperor's master." Snoke chuckled. It was not a pleasant noise. "Indeed. After my apprentice betrayed me, though my body was dead, my spirit endured. I drifted to the Unknown Regions, where I was given new life by remnants of the Old Sith Order. There I waited, my power growing, and observed as my apprentice completed my plan by his own hand, as his ambition and avarice blinded and weakened him, until he, too, was betrayed by his own apprentice, the Chosen One himself." Snoke shook his head. "Sidious was a fool; he let himself be blinded by power, and his confidence that he had dominated the Chosen One and the galaxy was his downfall. When his weak Empire fell, as I knew it would, and its remnants fled into the Unknown Regions, I saw my opportunity to bring my plan to true fruition at last. I reforged the Empire into the First Order, and hid my identity and intentions to keep the Republic from interfering as I took fringe system after fringe system, growing my influence as I prepared for war. When I discovered the grandson of the Chosen One, I nurtured the seeds of darkness within him and forged him into my apprentice. The Resistance and your discovery of Skywalker were unfortunate setbacks, but now… both you, and your allies, are all within my grasp."

Plagueis sat back in his throne, his eyes glinting with amusement and an evil glee, as he watched the pair before him for their reactions. Rey's veins had turned to ice, and she could feel Ben shaking beside her, though she couldn't tell if it was from fear or rage. Her mind was racing, trying to process everything. Snoke was a Sith Lord. And not just any Sith, the one who had taught the Emperor. And to make things worse, he couldn't die. It had been bad enough when she had thought Snoke was simply a fanatic who was strong with the Dark Side; this was much, much worse.

Plagueis shook his head again. "I was a fool to think you had the strength to kill someone with whom you shared a bond," he said, speaking to Ben, who flinched at his words. "But now that it has served its purpose, I have no reason to allow it to remain." He raised his hand, and Rey gasped as she felt the bond be severed, like a communicator she hadn't even realized was on suddenly dying. "Now, apprentice" the Supreme Leader rumbled, "you will kill the girl, or I will kill you both." At this, she turned to Ben, who had turned to face her as well. "Ben…" she said, her voice breaking, but she knew there was nothing she could say.

"I'm sorry," Ben said, and he lunged at her, his blade swinging towards her. She brought her own saber up to block the blow, and the only thing she heard over the noise of their sabers clashing was Plagueis laughing as he watched them.

/

Poe looked around the hangar at the people boarding the transports, his expression carefully neutral. His thoughts were on Finn and Rose. He knew there was nothing he could do for them, but he still felt like he'd failed them somehow. Like he'd failed the Resistance.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt Leia place a hand on his shoulder. "Captain," she said, her voice gentle, "it's time to go." Poe nodded, and turned to the transport he and General Organa were assigned to. Slowly, he walked over and headed up the ramp.

Behind him, Leia turned to look at Admiral Holdo, who was gazing around the rapidly emptying hangar, biting her lip nervously. She noticed Leia looking at her and shook her head slowly. Leia nodded, and turning, she went the rest of the way up the ramp, the airlock closing behind her. She sat down beside Poe, leaning heavily on her cane. Poe's brows drew together. "Where's Admiral Holdo?" he asked. Leia sighed sadly. "She's staying behind." Poe wanted to ask why, but he saw Leia's expression and realized he already knew the answer.

Holdo watched as Leia's transport, the last one in the hangar, lifted off and left. "Godspeed, rebels," she whispered. Then, she turned around and quietly made her way back to the bridge.

/

Finn was shoved roughly to his knees on the hangar floor, and he heard Rose grunt as she was pushed into a kneeling position as well. Finn looked down at the floor as he heard footsteps approaching. He knew who it was even before the silver boots stopped just in front of him.

"FN-2187," Captain Phasma said. Finn looked up. He wanted to say something sarcastic, but what came out instead was "My name is Finn." Phasma regarded him cooly beneath her visor before suddenly raising her hand and smacking him, forcing his head to the side. He grunted in pain. "You never did learn not to talk back to your superiors," she said, her voice still neutral. Finn glared at her. "You're not my superior anymore," he said. Phasma didn't respond to this. "So? Are you going to kill me?" he said after a moment. "Eventually," she replied, "but first, you're going to watch as the pitiful Resistance you betrayed us to join is crushed." Finn opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off when Rose spoke up. "The Resistance will never fall to you," she practically spat. If looks could kill, Phasma would have been a smoking crater. She turned to regard Rose calmly.

"On the contrary," she said, and she gestured to a group of troopers. The group parted, allowing Finn and Rose a clear view of the space beyond the hangar shield, and the Resistance transport beyond. "It seems as if your friends have finally run out of fuel," Phasma continued. "And now they're well in range of our fleet's blasters."

Finn stared out at the transport. "No," he breathed. He watched, waiting for the fleet to fire. A moment later, turbolaser bolts streaked into view, heading for the ship. He watched, waiting for them to hit the ship…

And saw, with both surprise and horror, as they instead hit several smaller ships he hadn't even seen. The transports. "No!" he said again, louder. "A last minute escape attempt," Phasma observed, her tone slightly impressed. "A futile effort." She turned to look at something behind her and gestured. "I'd love to execute you myself," Phasma said, as two First Order executioners stepped into view and moved around her, "but fortunately for you, I have to follow protocol." The executioners each took positions beside Finn and Rose. "Ready," Phasma called, and with a snap, their axes snapped open and flared to life. They placed them above their necks, and Finn could feel the heat from the laser. "On my order," Phasma said. _Guess this is it_, Finn thought. He closed his eyes.

/

Holdo looked up from the console she was typing into and saw the first explosion. She gave a small gasp, and quickly finished typing in the coordinates. Hurriedly, she sat down in one of the chairs on the bridge. She gripped the silver lever in front of her, and turned to look at the transports. "May the Force be with you," she said, and then she turned forward, braced herself, and pushed the lever forward. The last thing she saw was the familiar view of the stars in the viewport elongating into a white and blue tunnel.

/

_Moments earlier…_

It was all Rey could do to deflect Ben's blows with her own saber. Sweat trickled down her face as he lashed out with another savage attack. She had slowly been pushed back towards the edge of the room, and now she felt it as her back met the wall. She began panicking. There had to be some way out of this; she wouldn't hurt Ben, she refused, but maybe she could find a way to escape…

She cried out as Ben's saber met her own again, and there was a loud noise as their sabers deadlocked. Ben gave a noise of exertion as he pushed against Rey's block. She wanted to talk to Ben, say something, but no words would come, and she watched as inch by inch, the blades grew closer and closer to her face.

It was at that exact moment that the entire throne room shook so violently that both she and Ben were knocked away from each other, and she was flung back, dropping her saber as she slid across the floor. She heard a loud crack as one of the ceiling supports fell, and one of the Praetorian guards gave a cry that was cut short as he was crushed beneath the falling debris. She quickly got to her feet to see she was near the elevator, and that the support had landed between her and Ben, who looked up at her from his kneeling position on the floor. She couldn't see his face, but she knew what his expression would say if she could.

_Run_.

She gave a small nod, then reached out with the Force and summoned her saber back to her hand before turning and running into the elevator. She pressed the button and looked back into the room as the doors began to close. The last thing she saw before they closed fully was Ben getting to his feet as he watched her, and Plagueis sitting on his throne behind him. His expression was neutral, but the glint in his eye made a pit form in her stomach.

The silence in the elevator was deafening, and as the adrenaline from the battle wore off, she fell to her knees, sobbing quietly. She'd failed. She'd come here to redeem Ben, and not only had she failed to do so, she'd revealed Luke's location to Snoke, who would no doubt use the information to kill him. Her training could never be complete, and the Jedi could not return to save the Galaxy. Instead, the ones who had returned were the Sith, in the form of Darth Plagueis, who was more powerful than she could ever hope to be.

She took deep breaths to calm herself. This wasn't the end, she told herself; there was still a chance to put things right and save the galaxy. But first, she had to get out of here. Shaking, she raised her wrist and pressed the button to activate her communicator. When she spoke, she managed to keep her voice even.

"Chewie," she said, "I need a lift."

**A/N: Chapter 2 done! I had to alter the Tragedy slightly, sine Plagueis himself was the one telling it. I hope I'm doing a better job than the movies did so far; leave me a review and give me tips, criticisms, or any praise you might have.**

**Next chapter: Finn's battle with Phasma in the hangar, and the Battle of Crait, Part 1. I should be done with The Last Jedi (better edition) by the end of Chapter 3, 4 at the latest, and then I can take a few more liberties. As in, write my own story for Episode IX. Stay tuned!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The first thing Finn noticed when he came to was that he was still alive. The second thing he noticed, when he opened his eyes, was that everything was on fire.

Finn sat up quickly, looking around the hangar. Surrounding him were the bodies of dozens of stormtroopers, many of them crushed under debris that had fallen from the ceiling. It took him a moment to notice Rose standing nearby and shouting his name.  
"Finn!" she screamed. "We have to go! This whole ship is falling apart!" Finn groaned and got to his feet slowly. Then he heard a much louder groan as the ship shook violently. More debris fell around him as he made his way over to Rose. "We need to find a ship," Finn breathed. They looked around before Rose pointed to a shuttle towards the far side of the hangar. "There!" she said. "Good call, let's go," Finn replied. The pair began making their way slowly towards the ship.

Suddenly a voice spoke up from behind them. "There they are! Blast them!" Finn didn't even think, just let his training kick in as he tackled Rose to the ground. Crimson blaster bolts soared over head, and Finn looked up to see some of the stormtroopers were still alive. Looking for a weapon, Finn spotted a blaster and a shock baton on the body of a trooper nearby. He got to his feet and grabbed them, tossing the blaster to Rose, who got to her feet just in time to grab it. She fired back at the troopers, hitting one square in the chest. The trooper fell to the ground with a cry. Finn turned back towards the ship and was immediately hit in the face by something. He fell to the ground with a grunt as Rose shouted his name.

He sat up to see Phasma looming over him, a metal spear in one hand. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked. Her voice sounded outwardly calm, but Finn had served under her long enough to detect the undercurrent of rage in her words. He got shakily to his feet and looked behind Phasma at Rose, who was standing behind a piece of debris to shield herself from incoming laser fire. "Go!" he shouted, "Get to the ship! I'll be right behind you!" Rose looked at him with an expression of uncertainty. "Finn…" she started, but he cut her off with another shout of "Go!" before lunging at Phasma with his baton. She blocked the strike easily, and the next few after that, before swinging at him with her spear, striking him with the blunt end and causing him to stumble back. She twirled the spear back into a ready position. "You're a bug in the system," she hissed, no bothering to hide her anger any more. Finn glared at her. "Let's go, chrome dome!" he growled before lunging at her again.

Far above, BB-8 hurried along the catwalk. He'd been lucky not to have rolled off through the gaps in the railing, but now the metal walkway was unstable, and based on how many things were falling off the ceiling, it was only a matter of time before the catwalk fell, too. Finally arriving at the stairs down to the boarding platform, BB-8 thunked his way down the steps hurriedly. He looked around at the various AT-ST walkers docked here. Most had been destroyed beyond repair, but one seemed to still have the legs and primary blaster intact, though the main cabin appeared to have been sheared off by debris. Which was lucky, because he didn't really know how he would have gotten into a fully intact walker in the first place, now that he thought about it (He would probably have thought of something, though). Rolling off the platform and landing on the metal walker with another thunk, BB-8 plugged himself into the exposed wiring and began hotwiring the walker. All the while, the distant noise of Finn's battle with Phasma kept him going as fast as he could.

Finn grunted as he traded blow after blow with Phasma, trying to find an opening in her defense. But he couldn't find any; she'd taught him all his fighting skills, it only made sense that she'd know how to counteract his moves. Each strike was blocked, every blow parried. She advanced on him steadily, and he had to continuously back up. He became aware that he was getting closer and closer to an elevator shaft; Phasma was planning to force him to fall to his death. Far too quickly, he found his feet inches from the edge of the pit. Phasma swung at him, and he blocked it. He grunted as he pushed into the block as hard as he could, as Phasma pushed him closer and closer to the yawning shaft, as his heels went over the edge and hung over empty air…

Suddenly, a loud explosion drew the attention of both attackers. A distance away, what looked like a headless AT-ST had started firing at the various stormtroopers scattered throughout the hangar, including a group nearby that had been training their blaster on Finn in case he escaped the pit. He realized what was happening when he spotted a familiar flash of white and orange perched atop the walker. He was going to hub BB-8 when this was over. Turning back to Phasma, he took advantage of her distraction and thrust the baton into her abdomen. She stumbled back with a grunt, then, before he could move to block it, swung at him with a roar of fury. The spear hit him across the face, and he was knocked back into the shaft. Cool air blew around him, and he was falling… and then, suddenly, he hit a hard surface, and the wind was knocked out of him.

He quickly got back to his feet to see the elevator had miraculously been called, and was climbing up the shaft. As his head peeked over the top, he saw Rose at a nearby console, and when she saw him her expression looked relieved. He gave her a nod, then turned to look at Phasma, who had her back turned to him. "Hey, Phasma!" he yelled. She wheeled around, shocked, and before she could do anything, he swung at her face as hard as he could. With a shattering noise, the corner of her helmet was blown away, and she was knocked to the ground, where she was still, if only for a moment.

"Go!" he shouted at Rose. "I'll be right there!" She nodded and ran towards the shuttle. Finn walked to the edge of the rising platform to jump down off of it… and stopped as a silver gloved hand appeared over the ledge. He stumbled back, baton raised, as Phasma hauled herself over the ledge. Her left eye was exposed by the hole in her helmet, and the fury in her gaze was clearly visible. As she got to her feet, he saw two troopers climb over the edge after her, standing on the corners of the platforms and aiming at him, and he could hear two more climb onto the platform behind him. "Disobedient, disrespectful, traitor!" Phasma yelled, venom in her voice. He looked from the troopers in front of him to Phasma nervously. He couldn't fight his way out of this.

He lowered his baton and met Phasma's gaze. He couldn't fight all of the troopers, but maybe he didn't need to. "You call for order," he began, "you beat us down. But when your shiny neck was threatened, you squealed like a Whoophog." Finn stepped forward, and he saw Phasma flinch slightly as he continued. "The evidence blew up with the base, but you and I know the truth. When I put a gun to your head," he said, and gestured with his fingers to his head, then pointed at her, "you shut down Starkiller's shields. Now, what would your troops do if they found out?" He asked, and he saw the rage in Phasma's gaze dilute with fear. "Or your masters?" Phasma glared at him. "Who would believe a story like that?" she asked, but there was uncertainty in her voice. Behind her, Finn saw the troopers turn to look at each other, uncertain, their blasters beginning to lower. Phasma's eye darted from trooper to trooper, watching as they began to turn to her…

Suddenly, Phasma drew her pistol, firing four shots in rapid succession. Each shot hit a trooper square in the chest, killing them instantly. Finn lunged at her as she pointed her pistol at him, and he swung his baton, knocking her pistol away… and taking her hand with it. She screamed with a mixture of rage and pain, and swung at him with the spear she still held in her other hand. He was hit and fell back to the floor, the baton flying out of his hands, his back hitting the corpses of the troopers that had been standing behind him. He looked around for a weapon as Phasma walked up to him, looming over his prone form. "You were always scum," she hissed. Finn grinned at her. "Rebel scum," he said proudly, and as Phasma raised her spear to finish him off, he grabbed the heavy blaster from one of the troopers' bodies and pointed it at her. He saw Phasma freeze, her eyes widening in surprise, and then he pulled the trigger. The blast hit her square in the chest, and she was flung back off the platform from the strength of the impact, disappearing without even a scream into the debris and flame in the hangar. He didn't see her hit the ground, but he knew she was dead.

He got to his feet quickly, dropping the blaster. He went to the edge of the platform and looked down. It had risen to its full height, and he didn't want to risk jumping down and breaking a leg. He looked around for a way to lower the platform or another way off, and saw BB-8, still piloting the AT-ST, moving towards him. The little droid stopped the walker by the platform and chirped a greeting. Finn smiled. "Hey, thanks for the help," he said. The droid beeped about how now he knew what it was like to have legs, and Finn laughed. "Mind giving me a lift?" he asked, gesturing to the walker. BB-8 gave an affirmative, and Finn jumped off the platform and landed on the walker next to the droid. With a whistle, BB-8 began piloting the walker towards the shuttle on the far end of the hangar, where Finn could see Rose waiting by the boarding ramp.

/

Kylo Ren gave another cry of rage mixed with agony as Plagueis bombarded him with another torrent of Force lightning, the pain lancing through his mind and body. He was already on his knees, but he refused to go any lower. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the lightning subsided. Kylo gasped, taking deep, shuddering breaths. Blood was roaring in his ears, and he couldn't tell if it was an aftereffect of the lightning or his own rage. He didn't know why his master had stopped, and he didn't care. "Go ahead," he hissed without looking up, "kill me." Plagueis chuckled. "I think not. I still have uses for you." He looked up and saw his master close his eyes, seeming to concentrate on something. Finally, he opened them again. "The time has come," he rumbled, "for the Sith Order to return, and conquer the galaxy as it was always meant to." Plagueis' gaze turned to Kylo. "You have a choice, apprentice," he continued. "Will you remain weak, and let your doubts and your fear hold you back, or will you claim the power that is rightfully yours, and become a true Sith?"

The words hung over Kylo. For years, he'd practiced the ways of the Dark Side, under the teachings of both the Supreme Leader and his own Knights of Ren. But the Sith had always remained a distant concept, a group rooted firmly in the past, that had long since disappeared. But here he was, kneeling before a Sith Lord, and being offered the chance to become one. Distantly, he knew there was no real choice; if he said no, Plagueis would either kill him anyway or find something worse to do to him. He gazed up at his master. His fury still boiled, but now a hard shell of control encompassed it. "I will become a Sith," Kylo said, "as my grandfather did before me. I will claim my power." Plagueis smiled. "Good," he said. "Then arise… _Darth_ Ren."

Ren rose slowly to his feet, meeting his master's gaze evenly beneath his helmet. "What… is your bidding, master?" he asked, and even he was surprised at how calm his voice sounded. "The Resistance has fled to the planet below," Plagueis said. "They foolishly believe they can escape us. But now they have nowhere left to run. You will go to the planet, and crush them once and for all."

"What of the girl?" Ren asked, with a mix of curiosity and wariness. "It is true you have failed to kill her," his master said, "but your bond is severed, and you have cast her and her influence out. Now that her training will never be completed, she poses little threat. She will join her allies on the planet's surface, and you will crush her with the rest." Plagueis leaned back in his throne. "Go. Gather your Knights, and wipe the Resistance from the face of the galaxy." Ren bowed. "As you wish," he said, and then straightening back up, he turned and marched towards the elevator. As he approached, the door opened, and Armitage Hux stepped out. Hux regarded Ren with a look of disdain, but Ren didn't even glance at him as he passed him and entered the elevator.

The elevator doors shut, and Hux turned from them to Snoke. "Supreme Leader, the _Supremacy_ has suffered heavy damage," he said, marching to the center of the room and stopping there, his arms held behind his back. "We have begun evacuation procedures. Shall I prepare your personal shuttle?" Snoke pressed his fingertips together, his hands in front of his face. "Very well," he said. Hux began to turn back towards the elevator. "And General," Snoke said, and Hux turned back to him curiously. Snoke grinned. "Inform the Sith Troopers they are to deploy along with the rest of the troopers." A ghost of a smile appeared on Hux's face. "Then the reconstruction has begun?" He asked. Snoke's smile widened. "It has. The New Sith Order has risen.

"And there will be no escape from our wrath."

/

Rey raced along the corridor as fast as she could, dodging flames and Stormtroopers, most of whom were dead or unconscious. The ones who were alive barely had time to draw their blasters before she was either around a corner or though a cover of smoke. Her thoughts were racing almost as fact as her body.

She had to tell the Resistance. If she could tell them, they could tell the New Republic, and then they would have to send support. Even they, who, from what Rey had seen, had no interest in fighting the First Order, would have to send support when they realized the Sith were back. No one wanted a repeat of the Empire.

Chewie roared over her commlink, and she thought she heard blaster fire behind him. "I'm almost there!" she yelled into the comm. "Just hang on!" A moment later, she burst into the hangar, and saw Falcon sitting there. Several stormtroopers were firing up the boarding ramp, and while she couldn't see Chewbacca, she could see the bolts of his bowcaster flying down the ramp and striking a couple of the troopers. She pulled her blaster out of her belt and fired at the troopers before they could notice she'd entered. In seconds, all the troopers were dead. She raced up the Falcon's boarding ramp and pressed the button to raise it as she passed it. Chewie had already retreated back into the cockpit, and she heard him calling to her from there. "Go!" she yelled. "I'll man the cannons, they're probably going to come after us!" She heard him roar a reply, but she was already at the ladder and climbing up to man the upper cannon.

With a roar of its engines, the Millenium Falcon lifted into the air, turned toward the hangar's exit, and shot out into space. As it raced away from the ruined _Supremacy_, several TIE fighters shot out of adjacent hangars, the whine of their engines penetrating the vacuum of space as they gave pursuit. Rey strapped herself into the seat for the cannon, and wasted no time in swiveling the blasters to fire at the nearest TIE. Not expecting such swift action, the pilot was completely unprepared, and the fighter was hit. As it exploded, the other fighters noticed, and decided to begin their attack. They fired at the Falcon, but the blasts were either absorbed by the deflector shields or dodged entirely, thanks to some quick reflexes on Chewbacca's part.

Rey's aim was thrown off as the Falcon dodged the incoming blaster fire, but once the ship righted itself, she trained the blaster on another TIE and fired, then switched to another and fired at that one, not even waiting to see if the lasers had hit her target. The moments seemed to blur together, a series of firing and dodging and firing again, and finally she shot down the last TIE, and the space beyond her window was silent. "I think that's all of them!" she said to Chewie over the headphones. "Chewie, we need to get to the Resistance! I have to warn them about something!" Chewbacca roared a question. "Snoke's a Sith Lord!" she called back. Chewbacca roared in surprise and disbelief, but now he understood why Rey sounded so urgent. He turned the Falcon towards the planet of Crait, and they flew towards it as fast as they could.

/

Poe looked out at the planet of Crait, the light nearly blinding him. The surface was white, and beyond the massive hangar he stood in were several jagged cracks in the ground. He'd thought it was snow, but when he'd stepped off the transport and felt the wave of heat wash over him, he knew that couldn't be it. Not to mention when you brushed at it, the ground underneath was red. It turned out to be salt; Poe wasn't sure what to make of that. He'd been to a lot of strange planets in his life, but he'd never seen one that was entirely covered by salt. Then again, it explained why there was a mine here. He turned from the partially open hangar door back to the interior of the mine turned rebel base, where he and the rest of the Resistance were trying to come up with a plan.

This was all that was left, Poe thought with a sense of despair. There would have been nobody left if Holdo hadn't done what she did, and she had Poe's eternal respect for her sacrifice, but it just wasn't enough. Around a hundred soldiers, a dozen or so technicians, and six officers, not counting him and General Organa.

Speaking of the latter, he turned to look at her. She was sitting on a crate, leaning on her cane with an expression of sorrow and resignation. He'd never seen her look like that in all his years of serving under her. It made him feel like maybe they really weren't making it out of this one, more than even their numbers did. He walked over to her. "General," he said, "we've sent out a distress signal. Someone will come to help us." But Leia shook her head. "No one is coming, Captain," she said sadly.

"General!" called a technician from their makeshift comms center. "There's a ship coming in! It's First Order!" Poe's heart fell. He hadn't expected them to mobilize so quickly. They hadn't even come up with a plan yet. "Wait," said the technician. "Wait, they're sending us a message." The technician pressed a couple buttons, and then a female voice came out of the terminal's speakers.

"...Repeat, this is Rose Tico! Clearance code E-7T-54!" Poe stared. "I don't believe it," he said, and then he was running out the hangar door and looking up to see the shuttle as it came in for a landing. Moments later, it touched down. The ramp opened, and down it came… "Finn!" Poe called, his face breaking into a smile as he ran towards the ship. "Buddy! You're alive!" He ran up to Finn and gave him a hug, which the ex-stormtrooper returned with a laugh. Poe moved him to arm's length to look him over. "How'd you get out of there?" He asked. "We got lucky," Finn replied. Poe grinned. "Yeah… yeah, well maybe we will, too," he said, slapping Finn on the shoulder. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time." He began heading back towards the hangar, and heard Finn, Rose, and BB-8 behind him.

/

Ren walked into the hangar, heading towards his shuttle, which was waiting for him, ramp lowered. He was lucky this hangar had been on the undamaged side of the _Supremacy_, he thought distantly. Around the ramp were the Knights of Ren. There were ten total; five on each side of the ramp, creating a sort of pathway for him to the ship. He didn't greet them as he approached; he had no need or desire to engage in such things. As he passed each pair, they turned and followed him, and together with his Knights he strode up the ramp, closing it behind him. With a hum, the shuttle lifted off, moving out of the hangar towards the planet below.

/

Rey fidgeted nervously in her seat in the cockpit as the Falcon descended through Crait's atmosphere. She felt a tremor in the Force. Something big was about to happen. Something terrible. She had to reach the Resistance, both to warn them about Snoke and to help them escape. Chewie had told her he'd hacked into the First Order comms and heard the Resistance had fled here, which was why they were now heading towards the location of an abandoned rebel base, where they supposedly were. She hoped Finn was alright; the last time she'd seen him had been before she'd left for Ach-To. He'd been in a coma then; for all she knew, he could still be, or worse. She pushed that thought away.

The Falcon suddenly rocked violently. Rey grunted and gripped and console in front of her. Chewie roared angrily, and Rey looked at the radar to see three TIE Fighters were behind them. They'd been followed. Rey stood up quickly and raced back to the turrets. Climbing into her eat and placing the headset on, she aimed the turret at the pursuing fighters and froze.

They looked like normal TIE fighters, but she could see they bore bright red markings. Special forces. "Chewie," she said into the headphones, "they're special forces." Chewbacca roared in anger over the comms, and suddenly the Falcon lurched, though they hadn't been hit again yet. "Where are you going?" she asked. He roared back that he was taking them into a canyon. Rey paled. As she saw the fighters follow them, she knew one thing for certain.

She wouldn't get to the Resistance before the First Order did.

/

Poe peered through the electro binoculars again. The brief sense of joy he'd had at Finn's return had quickly faded when he'd seen the shapes on the horizon, blurred by distance and the heat rising off the surface but still recognizable; First Order Assault Walkers. Now his despair was back with a vengeance, and he moved the binoculars to gaze at the item hovering between two of the walkers, connected to them via metal supports.

A massive cannon was moving along with the walkers, its barrel aimed directly at the base. They were going to blow the hangar doors open, giving their artillery a clear line of fire at the people inside. His only consolation was how far away they'd landed; they had to be dropped a ways away because of all the cracks in the surface immediately in front of the base, but once the walkers were under their own power, it would be easy to move over them and into range. They had time, but they were rapidly running out of it.

One thing was for sure. "We've gotta take out that cannon," Poe said aloud, lowering his binoculars and turning to the soldiers behind him. "How?" one spoke up. "We don't have the firepower to destroy something that big!" Poe turned back to the outside. "We don't need to," he said. He pointed at the supports holding the cannon, though without the binoculars they were hardly distinguishable from the rest of the blur. "We take out those supports, the cannon stops. They don't have another way to move it, so if it stops, they can't get to us with their walkers. They'll have to come through on foot, and that's more manageable."

"We still don't have the firepower for that," the same soldier responded. Finn, who was standing a few feet away, looked around before spotting something. "Maybe we do," he said, and he began walking towards something. Poe looked over to where he was headed to see a line of ski speeders in alcoves on the hangar wall. "You might be onto something," Poe said to Finn, at the same time that one of the soldiers said, "those things? They've been here for decades! There's no way they're still useable!"  
As if on cue, one of them flared to life with a roar. BB-8 peeked out from underneath it, chirping happily. Poe grinned. "Any other questions?" he asked. None of the soldiers said anything else. Poe opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when someone shouted, "Incoming First Order transports!"

Poe wheeled around, his eyes widening, to see a dozen First Order transport ships descending through the atmosphere. He grabbed his electrobinoculars off his belt and watched as they landed much closer than the walkers had, just beyond the cracks in front of the hangar. Landing in the center of the line of transports was a black shuttle with tall, angular wings. Poe had only seen it once before, but he knew instantly what it was. It was Kylo Ren's personal transport shuttle.

The transports opened, and out of each one came 20 troops, in two lines of ten. The troops stopped just in front of the transports. At the same time, the boarding ramp of Ren's shuttle lowered, and down it came Kylo Ren, looking just as Poe had seen him last; hood drawn up, mask on. Behind him came a little under a dozen men. Each one wore a mask, similar but unique, and each held a unique weapon. As they fanned out behind Kylo, looking like bodyguards, Poe realized who they were. The Knights of Ren. A chill ran down his spine.

Ren gazed across the cracked surface at the hangar door, and the opening beneath it. The darkness of the interior prevented him from seeing the Resistance soldiers, but he knew they were watching him.

"There's nowhere left for you to run," he spoke, using the Force to project his voice (it was, a small part of him thought, one of the more ridiculous things one could do with the Force, but still useful). "I have no qualms about killing each and every one of you. But I'm willing to offer you a choice: surrender, and perhaps some of you will be spared." There was a moment of silence, and then a blue laser bolt streaked out of the hangar directly towards him. Calmly, he raised his hand, freezing it in front of him. There was a crackling of energy from the bolt as it struggled to move forward but was held in place by the Force. "I see," was all he said, and then he sent the bolt flying back into the hangar, being rewarded with the noise of something mechanical exploding. "If you won't see reason, then I have no choice."

"Sith troopers," he called, "come forward." The lines of troops in front of each of the transports separated, then turned to face each other. Out of each transport came a single trooper, red armored instead of white, with a black line from the eyes of the helmet to its mouth. Each trooper stepped in front of the lines of stormtroopers, who returned together and faced forward. "Ready your weapons," he called. Each Sith trooper drew an SE-44c pistol from their left hip, and drew a Riot Control baton, colored red rather than the usual white, from their backs, just above the belt. In perfect unison, each soldier activated their batons, then swung them so that the long end faced backwards. They pointed their pistols towards the sky and placed the arms holding the batons in front of their chests, ready to march.

Ren drew his lightsaber and ignited it, the crimson blade crackling to life. Behind him, his Knights readied their own weapons for battle. He raised his saber, pointing it straight ahead at the hangar. He spoke a single word. "Advance."

As one, the troopers began marching straight forwards towards the hangar. As he watched, each stormtrooper standing at the front of their respective lines drew a long pole, from which was hung a crimson banner. Ren could not see the symbol on it from where he stood, marching with them, but he knew what it was. It was the symbol of the Old Sith Empire, with the symbol of the First Order replacing the usual central circle.

The New Sith Order advanced on the hangar, and Ren knew this was not going to be a battle.

It was going to be a bloodbath.

**A/N: Next chapter we finish The Last Jedi with the climactic battle of Crait. As you can see I've made some changes. First, I've added ground troops to the mix, which will be fun to deal with, as well as the Knights of Ren and the Sith troopers. I was immensely disappointed in how the Sith troopers were used in The Rise of Skywalker; I expected them to be elite commandos, ruthless killing machines, so that's what they are here. There aren't that many of them right now, only one for every 20 stormtroopers, but once we reach Episode IX there'll be a lot more, which will be all the more threatening. Another thing I'm changing that wasn't mentioned here is that the ski speeders have functioning blasters. Remind me what their plan was in the original, again? Do some cool moves to impress the walkers into calling off the attack?**

**And of course, the First Order is now the New Sith Order. I came up with the idea for the symbol myself. And finally, Kylo Ren is now Darth Ren. That's not much of a change in terms of power level, considering Kylo's pretty powerful as is, but it's certainly going to impact him mentally and emotionally.**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter, and let me know how I'm doing so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Poe stared out at the advancing troops silently, despair growing inside him. There were over a hundred stormtroopers, not to mention the red ones- Sith Troopers, apparently. Behind him, the rest of what was left of the Resistance watched the approaching wall of soldiers with similar feelings.

As he continued to watch, however, his despair changed into a cold defiance. He wasn't just going to stand here and let himself be shot down, and he wasn't going to let anyone else do that either. He turned to the rest of the soldiers. "I know it looks like the Resistance is dead," he began, "but it isn't. As long as we're alive, the Resistance is still alive. As long as we're alive, hope is still alive." He gestured behind him. "Now, we might lose this fight, but I sure as hell won't just give up on it. If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting." He swept his gaze over all the soldiers, and in their eyes he saw the same cold resolve that he felt. "Now who's with me?!" he asked, and the soldiers raised their arms and cheered.

He turned to Finn to see him walking over to one of the technicians. "You guys have a map of this place?" he asked. The technician nodded and handed him a holoprojector. Poe watched as he walked back over, projector in hand. "You have an idea?" he asked, and Finn nodded. "This is a mine, right?" he said, as he turned the projector on to reveal a map of the various tunnels of the mine. "So there should be… there," he said. He pointed to a cluster of tunnels near the hangar, then pointed out of the hangar's mouth to the cracked surface beyond. "Those cracks out there… those are tunnels," he said. "And they connect to the hangar. The stormtroopers will have to move around them to reach the hangar, and if we're in them when they pass…" Now Poe was grinning. "We can flank them," he said. He turned back to the Resistance soldiers to see some of them were grinning, too. There was more than just cold resolve in their eyes, now.

There was _hope_.

"Alright," Poe said. "I need a group of pilots willing to get into those rust buckets." He pointed at the line of speeders. "Everyone else… get to the tunnels." He looked back out at the salt flats outside, the soldiers marching slowly towards them, and beyond that, the pair of walkers advancing with the cannon strung between them.

"We've got a battle to win."

/

Rey grunted as another volley of blaster fire grazed the Millennium Falcon's shields. Swiveling the turret, she sent a wave of return fire at the offending TIE fighter, but the pilot rolled out of the way, the lasers flying harmlessly off into the distance. Outside the viewport, she began to see more and more ground as they got lower and lower, and directly beneath them, she saw a large canyon. The fighters changed formation as they began to enter the canyon, moving closer together to avoid hitting the canyon walls. Rey fired again, trying to take advantage of their changing formation. She hit one of the fighters, but the bolts were absorbed by the fighter's own deflector shields. Right, Rey thought. They had those.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Chewie," she called over the commlink as the canyon walls finally enclosed around them. Chewbacca roared something back, but it was drowned out by more blaster fire from the TIE fighters. Rey moved to fire but was stopped when the Falcon made a sudden sharp turn to avoid hitting the canyon wall as it curved to the left, causing her to be forced to the side. Behind them, the fighters swerved around the bend, their screaming engines sounding louder in the echoing walls of the gorge. One of them scraped against the wall of the canyon slightly, and Rey saw a flash of energy as the starfighter's shields went down, and she took the opportunity to fire at it. The pilot, caught off guard, was unable to dodge, and the blaster bolts sheared into the cockpit. The fighter exploded in a massive fireball, the scraps falling to the canyon floor below.

As the Falcon weaved around a massive stalagmite in the middle of the gorge, she saw the other two fighters spread out, each one swerving around a different side of the rock formation. Now that there were only two, she realized, they had more room to maneuver, which meant they would be harder to hit. Still, she fired at them again as they wove through the canyon, then fired again and again, even as the fighters dodged around each volley. Chewie roared again as they dove towards the canyon floor suddenly, dodging an overhang. Rey grimaced as they returned to their previous altitude and watched the fighters soar underneath the outcropping. With a sudden surge of inspiration, Rey fired at the outcropping, causing it to collapse in a shower of boulders. The fighters' shields, calibrated to deflect lasers from the front, were completely useless against the offending objects, and one of the fighters was crushed under the rocks, falling to the canyon floor in a massive conflagration.

The last remaining fighter dodged the boulders, and wasted no time in firing at the Falcon. The ship shook violently as the lasers finally penetrated the shields. An alarm blared over her headset, and she heard Chewie roar in frustration. Nothing was damaged, he said, but with the shields now down, another hit like that wouldn't end well for them. "There's only one more fighter!" Rey called over the comms, "But I'm running out of ideas!" Chewbacca roared again, and the Falcon sped up. Rey began to wonder what Chewie was doing, but she had her answer when the Falcon suddenly swerved upward, doing a full loop. The TIE Fighter, unable to follow the loop, soared past the Falcon. When they came out of the loop, they were behind the TIE. Rey fired at the fighter before he could recalibrate his shields, and the fighter exploded. Rey cheered as they soared through the explosion and out of the canyon. Chewie roared in celebration as well, as he aimed the Falcon in the direction of the Resistance's beacon, and began flying towards them.

/

Darth Ren watched silently as the line of speeders soared out of the hangar. The soldiers stopped marching and watched as the vehicles flew towards them, a single metal rod trailing behind them, creating a cloud of red dust behind them. Ren regarded them cooly for a moment before turning to look at his soldiers. "Fire when ready," he said simply. The stormtroopers raised their blasters and aimed at the approaching speeders.

Poe saw as the soldiers stopped marching, and watched as they aimed at him and his fellow pilots. He braced himself as they sped towards the stormtroopers. Just before they were in range of them, he activated his headset. "Now!," he yelled into his comm. In the cracks spread out outside the hangar, dozens of soldiers heard his voice, and rushed up the slopes at the edges of the cracks, popping out onto the surface behind the troopers. They opened fire, and there were shouts of pain and surprise as white armored soldiers began falling before they even knew what had hit them. As Poe sped past the lines of soldiers, he saw that already, the numbers had been reduced to a far more manageable amount. They were still outnumbered, but now he saw they had a chance.

Poe cheered, and over his comm he heard the other pilots due the same. "Alright, ladies and gentleman," he said, grinning widely. "We don't have to worry about those soldiers, but we still got the walkers to take care of. Remember: Aim for the supports holding the cannon. The moment those are gone, we get out of range of the walkers' blasters and go help our boys on the ground. Are we clear?" There were various shouts of "yeah!" and "yes, sir!" over the comms. "Then let's win this fight!" he yelled, and there was more cheering over the comms.

Poe looked over at the speeder next to him, the one Finn was in. "Hey, Finn, you alright?" he called. "These things are falling apart," he called back. "It's a wonder they still work at all." Poe laughed. "Hey, don't look at me, pal, this was your idea," he replied. He turned back forward to see that they were getting close to the walkers. "They've got escorts!" Someone called. Poe looked by the walkers' feet to see AT-STs and a couple walkers that looked kind of like spiders. "Heavy Scout Walkers," Finn said over the comms. "They've got tougher armor than the AT-STs." Poe watched as the smaller walkers began heading towards them. It wouldn't be long before they were in range. "Alright, people, we're gonna have to get through these guys before we can target the cannon. But we have to do it fast, because we don't have long before the cannon's in range of the hangar. You with me?" He called. "We're with you, Poe!" several people yelled. "Follow my lead," he said, and he sped towards the walkers.

The second they were in range, he opened fire. Laser bolts streaked towards an AT-ST and hit it on its chassis. It shook slightly before returning fire. Poe veered to the side, and the bolts hit the ground behind him. He sped past the walker, then banked around to fire at it again. His blasts hit the exposed machinery on the back of the walker's 'head', and the walker exploded, collapsing to the ground. Poe gave a short cheer, but he knew the fight was just getting started. All around him, his fellow speeder pilots began engaging their own walkers as their phase of the battle began. Poe was already swerving around to target another walker, one of the spider-like ones.

They had a long fight ahead of them.

/

Ren swung his blade, blocking a slew of laserfire aimed at him. Some of the bolts were sent back at his attackers, mowing them down, and he lifted one of the others with the Force and sent them flying into another group of soldiers. One soldier rushed at him with a stolen riot baton, and he deflected their swing before promptly cutting them in half. Sensing more incoming blaster fire behind him, Ren turned and threw his saber, deflecting the shots and guiding it to cut through the offending soldiers before returning it to his hand. Around him, his Knights of Ren cut a bloody path through the Resistance soldiers, and beyond them, the Sith troopers were performing similarly, though to a lesser extent. They crimson soldiers used their batons to deflect blaster fire before returning fire with their pistols.

The enemy soldiers were rapidly falling, and Ren knew it wouldn't be long before they were all dead. They knew it, too, because they began to turn from the fight and run back towards the hangar. The surviving troopers took aim and fired at the fleeing Resistance forces, cutting down almost half of what was left of them. Most of them now lay dead, and he made his way over their bodies to continue towards the hangar, his Knights behind him, and his remaining soldiers on either side. There were about thirty of them left, including the Sith troopers, only one of whom had fallen. The Resistance was in a similar state, but Ren knew that didn't make it a fair fight. Soon they would all be dead, and the New Republic would be next.

/

Poe whooped as another walker fell to the ground in a burning heap. For a rustbucket, his speeder handled remarkably well, though perhaps that was in part due to all the exterior panels that had flown off. His momentary joy faded, however, when he looked around at the rest of the battle. They'd downed their fair share of walkers, yes, but most were still standing; not a single of the Heavy Scout Walkers had fallen, despite the fact that they'd fired at them several times. On their side, they'd lost two speeders; their charred, still smoking wreckage was plainly visible against the white salt of Crait's surface. The sinking feeling in his gut worsened when he looked past the wreckage at where the soldiers had attacked the stormtroopers. There were so many bodies, and not nearly enough of them were white… then again, maybe the stormtroopers just blended in to the ground. Either way, he decided, they had to take the canon out soon, or there would be no one left to help.

"Guys, we gotta pick up the pace," Poe called into the comms. "Give me cover, I'm targeting the supports!" Two speeders broke away from their engagements and fell into formation on either side. "We got you, Poe!" one of the pilots - Lora, if he remembered correctly - yelled into her comm. An AT-ST turned towards them as they sped towards it, firing. The escort on his left returned fire, and the walker exploded after a few hits, collapsing to the ground as they sped past. A Heavy walker crawled suddenly into their path, opening fire the moment they were in range. "Evasive maneuvers!" Poe called, swerving to the right to doge the volley of lasers. He returned fire, but the blaster bolts were absorbed harmlessly by the walker's armor. "What the hell are these things made of?!" he shouted in frustration. "We're coming up on the Assault Walkers!" Lora called into the comms. The walkers in question were looming over them, the massive laser cannon hovering between them, connected to each walker by a metal support. If he was targeting it, it was now or never. "Alright," he said, "keep that Scout Walker occupied, I'm taking my shot!" He sped up, approaching the walkers, while his escorts broke off to draw fire. Aiming his blasters, he braced himself as he got into range, and the second the computer signified he was on target with a beep, he pulled the trigger.

Three pairs of emerald lasers fired from the speeder's blasters, soaring through the air and hitting the cannon's right support beam. The lasers sheared through the metal like paper, and the canon listed to the side, seperated from one of its walker escorts. "It's a hit! Right support's gone!" he yelled into his comm with a smile. The response he heard was lots of cheering from the other pilots. "I'm gonna circle back around and hit the other one, keep me cove-" he was cut off when the right Assault Walker, still smoking on one side where the support had ripped off, fired at his speeder, hitting it in its engine. Poe grunted as the speeder jerked from the force of the hit, fighting with the controls to keep the speeder steady. After what felt like forever, but was probably only a few seconds, he lost the fight, and the controls jerked from his hand as the speeder hit the ground. Poe shielded his face with his arms as the speeder scraped along the ground, kicking up salt and red dust, before stopping with a groan and a shriek of metal.

Poe coughed violently, trying to clear his lungs of all the dust. He struggled with his seat's safety harness for a moment before managing to get it off, stumbling out of the smoking cockpit. He forced his coughing to subside as he made sure his headset was still on, then realized that someone was yelling his name through the ringing in his ears. "Poe!" Finn's voice called. "You alright?" Poe coughed a bit more before replying. "I'm alright! Keep going, I'll head back towards the hangar to help the others!" There was a pause. "You sure?" Finn called back. "I'm sure! Take out that other support as fast as possible; we don't have a lot of time!" He called. "Roger that," Finn replied.

Checking to make sure he was still in fighting shape and making sure his pistol was intact, he drew it and began running towards the open hangar door in the distance, his eyes on the small dots signifying soldiers just beneath it.

/

"Alright," Finn said into his comm, "Poe's out of this fight, but we still have a chance. Everyone focus your fire on the last support. The sooner it's gone, the sooner we can help the others. Let's do this!" He didn't pay attention to the responses of the pilots, just sped forwards towards the walkers. Several Scout Walkers fired at him, but he managed to doge their fire. Behind him, he heard some of his fellow pilots return fire. One of the walkers exploded in a spectacular conflagration. Their first Heavy Walker down. He knew they wouldn't be lucky enough to take down another one.

His speeder jerked suddenly when a blaster bolt from a walker slammed into it. He gripped the controls tightly, but the speeder stayed steady; the engine hadn't been hit. Finn turned to see that instead, his blasters had been reduced to scrap. "Rose," he spoke into the comm, "my blasters are busted. Someone else is gonna have to hit the support!"

"I'm on it!" she called back, and he saw her speeder soar past him with a whine of its engine. She dodged around several bolts from walkers, a couple coming dangerously close to hitting her. "I need some cover!" she yelled. "I'm-" he heard a pilot start, before being cut off by their own scream as they were engulfed in an explosion. A couple more pilots tried to break off from their fights, only for them to be shot down, too. They were rapidly losing pilots. "I'm almost there!" Rose shouted, just before her speeder suddenly was hit by laser fire, erupting into flames.

"Rose!" Finn shouted as he saw the speeder crash into the ground and skid to a halt. Finn turned and sped over to the crash, slowing down as he neared. He stopped the ski speeder completely, and it fell to the ground with a thunk as its repulsorlifts cut out. Finn unbuckled quickly and ran over to the crashed speeder. Rose was in the cockpit, grunting as she attempted to unbuckle herself. "Rose, hey, you alright?" Finn asked as he climbed onto the speeder, helping her unbuckle and pulling her to her feet. She nodded. "I'm a bit banged up, but I'm alright," she said. Finn was going to respond, but was cut off by a loud humming noise. He paled when he realized what it was. "No," he whispered, and he turned to the cannon just as it fired. A crimson beam soared across the flats between the canon and the hangar, hitting the hangar door and buckling it inward with a massive tearing noise that echoed across the salt flat. The beam cut off after a moment, leaving a massive hole in the hangar door, giving the walkers a clear line of fire to the interior. They didn't fire, though; they were probably waiting for orders to.

"Everyone, get back to the hangar now," Finn said into his comm. He saw the remaining speeders, four of them, turn immediately and soar back towards the mine. He turned to Rose. "Let's go," he said. She nodded, and the two of them turned and began running towards the hangar.

/

"Are you alright, General?" The technician asked as he helped Leia to her feet. She'd fallen to the floor when the cannon had fired, and now dust was falling slowly from the hangar's ceiling, settling on the shoulders of the remaining soldiers that had retreated back inside. She waved him away patiently. "I'm fine, lieutenant," she said, and she meant it, at least physically. Mentally was another story. They'd lost. Despite everything, all they'd done, all they'd sacrificed, it just wasn't enough. The First Order was still marching closer and closer to galactic conquest, and even worse, her son was still in the clutches of Supreme Leader Snoke. She sat back down with a small sigh. No one was coming to help, that much she knew. Connix had told her; people had heard their signal, but no one was responding. Most of the galaxy didn't care, severely underestimating the First Order, and those who did know how dangerous they were had simply given up hope. The Resistance died today.

When she heard the footsteps, Leia looked up, wondering if the First Order's troops had arrived at the hangar already.

Then she realized it was coming from inside the hangar.

She turned to the dark interior to see a cloaked figure emerge from the shadows. She knew who it was even before they stopped in front of her and lowered their hood. "Leia," Luke said gently, crouching down on his knees so he was eye level with her. "Luke," she greeted, her voice soft. There was a pause. So many years of absence and tension hung between them, and the silence was almost deafening. Finally Leia spoke to break the quiet. "I know what you're going to say," she said softly, "I changed my hair." Luke gave a small grin. "It's nice that way," he responded. There was another small pause. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "I know," Leia replied. "I know you are. I'm just glad you're here at the end." Luke looked away for a moment. "I came to face him, Leia. And I can't save him." Leia placed her hand gently on his cheek and pushed his face back to look at her. "I know," she said, "but she can." She didn't need to say who 'she' was; there was only one person she could be referring to.

Luke shook his head softly. "So much rests on her shoulders, and she's barely capable of holding it. I wonder if we're putting too much on her." Leia looked at him sadly. "She has people to help her bear the weight. Just like we did." Luke met her eyes once more, then placed his hand in hers, for a moment before taking it back again. "I'm sorry about Han," he said as he stood up. Her gaze stayed on Luke as he turned to walk out. "Luke," she called, stopping him, "if you go out there… you'll die." Luke looked at her over his shoulder. "Nothing can stop that now," he said, and then he turned back forward and kept walking. He patted C-3PO on the shoulder as he passed, and Threepio quietly said, "Master Luke," both in greeting and farewell. Leia watched him go sadly. She knew there was nothing she could do, but she still felt like there should be. Then he stepped into the sunlight beyond the hangar door, without a sound, and was gone.

/

As Finn and Rose approached the hangar, they saw Poe ahead, crouching on the edge of one of the cracks that led down to the tunnels, his pistol drawn. The remaining four speeder pilots were with him, their speeders left a ways away, probably to avoid the Stormtroopers from noticing their approach. They joined them in the crack. "You OK?" Finn asked when he crouched down next to Poe. Poe turned and looked at him. "Yeah, you?" he responded. "Fine. What are we doing?" Finn asked. Poe turned back towards the hangar and gestured forward. "Look," he said. Finn turned forwards and looked. Just outside the hangar, the troopers had paused, and just beyond them, he saw two figures, one with a crimson lightsaber, the other emerging from the hangar. The first he recognized as Kylo Ren, but the second… "Is that Luke Skywalker?" he asked in disbelief. Poe nodded. "Yeah," he said, "that's him. He's facing Ren alone." Finn looked at Poe, then back at the hangar. "Well, let's go help him, then," he said, and started to get up. Poe grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back down. "No," he said. "He's doing it to buy us time to escape. We need to get back to the others and find a way to get out of this."

Finn looked at him for a moment, debating it. He couldn't defeat Kylo by himself, but he honestly didn't know how he would be able to help, anyway. Besides, Poe was right. They needed to find a way to escape. "Alright," he said. "Let's go, we can use the tunnels." Poe nodded, then gestured to the others. The group silently made their way into the tunnels and began making their way through them, back towards the hangar. A couple minutes later, they were back in the hangar. When they entered, Leia looked up at them. "General," Poe greeted with a nod, "we have a plan to escape?" Leia sighed. "I'm afraid not, Captain," she replied. Poe stood there a moment, thinking.

As they stood there, something occurred to Finn. "Where did Luke come from?" he asked. Leia looked up again, meeting his gaze, but it was Lieutenant Connix that responded. "He… came from inside the hangar," she said, pointing. Finn looked. "Then there must be another way out of here," he said. "Look," someone said, pointing. In the darkness, they could just make out a few quadrupedal silhouettes, probably some of the crystalline creatures they'd scared off when they first arrived, running deep into the hangar. They looked like they were going somewhere specific. "Where are they going?" Finn and Poe locked gazes, then Finn turned to the others. "Follow them," he said, and he began to go after the creatures. Behind him, he heard the rest of the Resistance quickly gather up what they could and follow.

/

Ren was still several meters from the door when he walked out.

Immediately he stopped walking, and his Knights stopped as well. A moment later, his soldiers noticed and stopped, too. As Luke came to a stop a few meters away, Ren realized the hand holding his lightsaber was shaking with rage. This rage felt different than it had before, though; it was a cold, venomous rage that left his thoughts clear, not the burning, all-encompassing fire he was used to. Was this what it was like to be a Sith? He wasn't sure what to make of it.

He gestured with his other hand to his Knights, signalling not to interfere, then lifted his hand and removed his helmet, dropping it to the ground at his feet. "You," he spoke, his voice calm but laced with venom. Luke met his gaze evenly. "Hello, Ben," he said. "That is not my name," he replied. "Ben Solo is dead. You killed him yourself." He was rewarded for that comment by Luke wincing slightly, and Ren couldn't help but feel a small bit of satisfaction. "I know," Luke said, "and I came to tell you I'm sorry." At that, the cold anger suddenly flared to the familiar hot. "You don't _get_, to be, sorry!" Ren yelled. "Not after what you did! Not after all this time!" Luke didn't wince this time; he just stared at him, his expression calm. "I know that Snoke made you what you are now; he wants you to think Ben is gone, but he's still here. Even if I can't reach him." Ren kept himself from grinning when Luke said Snoke; even he, in his _infinite Jedi wisdom_, still didn't realize who his master really was. Slowly, he raised his lightsaber. "I'll kill the Resistance," he said, "I'll kill the Republic. And I'll kill you. And once I do, I will have killed the last Jedi."

"Amazing," Luke said, grinning, "every word of what you just said… was wrong." Ren laughed. "You mean the girl? She's no Jedi. And she never will be. She's nothing. Not to me. Not to anyone." Luke's grin didn't fade. "And that's why she can reach you where no one else can," he said. "That's why she can save the galaxy where I can't. Because she's separate from the rest of us." Ren had had enough. He lunged at his former master, swiping at his face, but Luke dodged the swipe, still looking at him with that infuriating expression of calm. "If you strike me down in anger," he said, "I'll always be with you, haunting you. Just like your father." The mention of his father made his anger flare again. He swiped again, and this time the blade hit… and went directly through Luke, without a sign it had touched him at all. It took him a moment to realize what that meant. "No," he breathed quietly when he realized. The Force projection of Luke grinned again. "See you around, kid," he said, and then he faded from sight. "No!" Ren screamed, but Luke was already gone, with no sign he had ever been there.

Breathing heavily to get his anger back under control, he summoned his mask back to his hand with the Force and placed it back on his head. After another moment, he spoke, addressing his soldiers. "Kill the rebels," he said, keeping his voice even. "All of them." He stepped forward, and behind him his forces followed.

/

Millions of lightyears away, on the planet Ahch-To, Luke Skywalker, sitting on a cliff overlooking the sea that covered most of the planet, opened his eyes. He gazed out at the sunset over the water. He was exhausted, but calm; he'd done what he needed to. Now he had to trust in the Force. As he closed his eyes for the last time, his thoughts drifted to his father, who had also given his life to save the ones he cared about. And as he closed his eyes for the last time, he was content in the fact that he was joining him. He was at peace.

And then Luke Skywalker died, his body fading as he became one with the Force.

/

Rey felt it as Luke died like a punch to the gut. She clutched her stomach suddenly, her face paling. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and beside her, Chewie asked her what was wrong. "I'm fine," she replied. Chewie responded that she was crying, and Rey placed a hand on her cheek to discover that she was, indeed, crying. She took another breath and began to reply, but suddenly the Force tugged on her again, this time telling her something completely different. "Chewie, land the Falcon here," she said. Chewbacca gave a noise of protest, but stopped when the console started beeping. The Resistance beacon was moving, towards them. Deciding to listen to Rey after all, he slowed the Falcon and landed it on a small plateau surrounded by rocky outcroppings. Outside the viewport, Rey saw a cave, it's entrance covered by rocks. She unbuckled and stood up. "Chewie, keep the Falcon on," she said. The wookie asked her what she was doing as she began making her way out of the cockpit, double checking that Luke's lightsaber was still on her belt. "Going digging," she replied.

Chewie didn't bother to ask what that meant.

/

Words could not describe the despair Finn felt when he rounded the corner to see the tunnel was blocked. He turned around to look at the others as they stopped behind him. "It's a dead end," he said. "We must have taken a wrong turn." Poe brought his hand up and let them fall back down again in exasperation. He turned back around, and the rest of group started to turn around, too, before suddenly someone at the rear of the group yelled, "Contacts on radar! The First Order followed us into the tunnels!" Poe turned back to Finn. "And now we're trapped," he said. His tone was a mix of frustration and despair. Finn drew his blaster. "Then we go down fighting," he said, just before he heard a noise from the other side of the rocks. "Hello?" called a familiar voice. "Is anyone there?"

Finn turned and ran up to the rocks, trying to find a gap in them. "Rey? Rey, is that you?" he called, his hope evident in his voice. "Finn? Yes, it's me! You're alive!" Rey yelled back, her tone sounding relieved. "Yeah, well, not for much longer," Finn said. "The First Order is right behind us. You got a way to move these rocks?" There was a pause. "Tell everyone to stand back," Rey said, just before he heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting. He nodded, then remembered she couldn't see him. "OK," he said, and he stepped back a couple feet. A second later, a blue blade of light cut through the rocks, and began moving upward as Rey began cutting a circle out of the rocks. As she cut them, some of them fell out of place, and light began to filter through the holes. From around the corner of the tunnel, Finn began to hear distant shouts, and blasters began to fire. The Resistance soldiers crowded around the bend, trying to get out of range of the stormtroopers. Still, they didn't have much longer.

Just as the voices were getting close to the corner, there was a massive crashing noise as Rey finished cutting, and all the rocks within the circle she'd made fell to the tunnel floor. Sunlight streamed in, showing Rey standing there, lightsaber ignited and a smile on her face. Behind her, the Millenium Falcon waited. Finn didn't think he'd ever been happier to see someone or their ship before in his life. The moment was cut short, however, by the shouts of the First Order's soldiers as they began rounding the corner. "Come on!" Rey shouted, gesturing, and Finn ran out of the tunnel and towards the Falcon.

Rey stood by the tunnel as the Resistance soldiers rushed out of it. As the last of them ran out, some of them turned and fired at the stormtroopers, who fired back, downing a couple. "Go!" she yelled at them, and they turned and ran towards the Falcon. Rey was right behind them, deactivating her lightsaber as she ran. When she reached the boarding ramp, she turned to look back at the tunnel.

Ben was there, leading the troopers, his lightsaber ignited. For a moment, she looked at him, and once again, she could feel their eyes meet even through his helmet. "Ben," she whispered. And then she was running up the ramp, pressing the button to close it as she passed by the control panel. The ramp closed with a thunk. "Chewie, that's everyone!" she yelled down the hall. "Go!" With a roar, Chewie lifted the Falcon into the air, and then they were off. Rey gripped the wall tightly as they rose through the atmosphere, not letting herself relax until she felt the familiar lurch as they shifted into hyperspace. When she did, she sighed, her body relaxing fully. She made her way to the common area, where the Resistance members had gathered.

Her heart strained when she entered and looked around. There were so little left; a bit over twenty soldiers, four of them pilots, and six technicians. The strain was lessened a bit, though, when she saw faces she recognized. Finn, Poe, and BB-8 were over in the corner, and she began walking over to them. There was a girl she didn't recognize talking to Finn, but as she neared, they ended their conversation, and Finn turned to see her approaching. Before he could do anything, though, BB-8 gave a joyful beep and rolled towards her, stopping at her feet and chirping up at her. She laughed and leaned down to pat him on the head. "Were you alright without me?" she asked, and he beeped an affirmative. She stood back up as Finn came over, and she hugged him. He returned the hug a bit awkwardly. Behind him, Poe greeted her with a smile and a nod, which she returned.

She broke away after a moment, holding him at arm's length. "I'm glad you're alright," she said. Finn nodded. "Yeah. Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded, but her smile faded. "Is Leia… is she here?" he nodded again, and pointed over to one of the couches. She looked over to see Leia there, talking to Lieutenant Connix. C-3PO was nearby, apparently arguing with R2-D2. With a pat on his shoulder, she left Finn and made her way over to the General. As she neared, Leia looked up and saw her, and she dismissed Connix. Rey stopped in front of the couch, and was silent for a moment. Leia gestured to the seat next to her, and Rey sat.

After a moment, she spoke. "General..." she started, then broke off and tried again. "Leia… your brother…." Leia nodded quietly. "I know," she said, her voice even but sad. Rey was quiet again, and she looked down at her hands, which she hadn't even realized were still holding Luke's lightsaber. How was she supposed to tell Leia about Plagueis? "Snoke…" she began, "he's… he's a Sith Lord." She looked back up to see Leia looking at her, and there was more sorrow in her eyes than Rey had ever thought a single person could handle. The general nodded. "I think I already knew," she said softly. "I didn't want to believe it - that the Sith had returned - but in my heart, I've known since he took my son." She looked away, and Rey followed her gaze to see she was looking at Chewbacca, who had just entered the room and was speaking to Poe and Finn.

"I couldn't save him," she said after a moment. "Leia, I tried, and I almost had him, but Snoke - Plagueis, he kept me from reaching him." Her voice finally broke, and she looked down at her hands again. "I wasn't strong enough." Leia placed her hand over Rey's gently. "But you will be," she said. "Give it time, and trust yourself, and the Force, and soon you will be." Rey looked up again. "Where do we go from here?" she asked. "How do we build a rebellion- an army- from this?" She gestured at the shattered remains of the Resistance around them. Leia met her eyes, and this time, the sorrow was dulled with the fire of determination, the resolve of a woman who had spent her life fighting for what she believed in, and wasn't about to give up now. "We have everything we need," Leia said, and for a while they sat like that, the general's hand over hers, Rey holding on to Luke's saber, the gentle hum of the ship flying through hyperspace beneath them.

**A/N: And now we have arrived at the end of The Last Jedi, and we can finally move on to Episode IX! I know exactly where I want this story to go, and everything I want to happen, and I hope you guys like it! I've come up with my own title for Episode IX; you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see what it is! Until then, let me know what you think, and I hope I'm doing a good job!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This begins about three months after the end of the last chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

_A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…_

_STAR_

_WARS_

_EPISODE IX_

_THE BALANCE RESTORED_

_The galaxy is in chaos. The NEW REPUBLIC has learned that the leader of the First Order, Supreme Leader Snoke, is in reality DARTH PLAGUEIS, Dark Lord of the SITH and former master of Emperor Palpatine. Knowing this, their remaining leaders have fled to the planet CORUSCANT, blockading themselves on the planet with what little military forces they have and leaving the rest of the galaxy undefended. The First Order, now known as the NEW SITH ORDER, march unopposed across the galaxy, conquering system after system with little resistance._

_Meanwhile, the RESISTANCE, with few resources and no aid from the New Republic, have fled to a small moon in the Outer Rim, where they attempt desperately to come up with a plan to stop the Sith Order. GENERAL LEIA ORGANA, leader of the Resistance, has sent the last of the JEDI, the padawan REY, on a quest throughout the Outer Rim, searching for a way to defeat Plagueis, who has seemingly conquered death itself, and save Leia's son, BEN SOLO, now the Sith Lord DARTH REN._

_Now, as the Sith Order's shadow spreads across the galaxy and the hope for democracy crumbles, the time for the final battle draws near…._

/

The planet of Sterik was a beautiful place by any means. A mix of lush, green forests and rocky, snow-capped mountains, it had a massively diverse ecosystem and was an attractive vacation spot for many people in the Outer Rim. It also had many valuable resources, which was why the New Republic had set up a mining operation on the planet's surface.

It was that same mining operation whose workers were currently providing the planet's only resistance. And they were quickly falling.

Blaster fire streaked through the woods as crimson armored Sith troopers opened fire on the New Republic militia. The soldiers, wearing old and outdated armor due to the New Republic's extremely limited supply of military technology, fired back as they retreated through the woods. Some of the troopers threw grenades, blowing soldiers off their feet and setting fires throughout the woods.

Suddenly, overhead, a black shuttle with tall, triangular wings descended through the trees, landing in the middle of the battlefield. The ramp lowered, and down it came a figure who was instantly recognizable to anyone who had paid attention to recent galactic affairs.

Darth Ren wasted no time in joining the fight. The second he was off the ramp, he ignited his saber and lunged at the nearest Republic soldier, cutting them down before they even had a chance to react. He jumped from that one to the next one, and then the next, cutting down five soldiers in rapid succession. Soldiers further away raised their blasters and fired at him, but he brought his saber up to deflect every bolt aimed at him. Raising his hand, he lifted a nearby soldier with the Force, then snapped his neck by clenching his hand into a fist.

He turned to another group of soldiers and threw his saber at them. They dived out of the way, but he hadn't been aiming for them; the saber sliced cleanly through the base of a tree to their right, and Ren pulled on it with the Force, bringing it down and crushing the entire group instantly. He caught his saber as it flew back to him, then turned and unleashed a torrent of Force lightning - a recently acquired skill - on another soldier, causing him to scream in agony for a moment before his entire nervous system simply shut down. Ren was already slicing through another group of soldiers before his body even hit the ground.

Once that group was disposed of, he turned, scanning for the next wave, only to see there wasn't one; he had killed all the remaining soldiers. He deactivated his saber and placed it back on his belt, then stood, looking around the damaged forest as the Sith troopers surged around him, checking to make sure all the New Republic forces were truly dead. Without a word, Ren turned and marched back towards his shuttle, still waiting where it landed.

/

Far overhead, in the planet's atmosphere, the _Finalizer_ orbited the planet, its silent figure an intimidating presence. Darth Ren's shuttle flew into one of its many hangars, landing with a small thunk. Inside the hangar, Armitage Hux waited, arms crossed behind his back, his face a carefully constructed mask of neutrality. As the shuttle's ramp descended, and Ren walked down it, however, he couldn't help the slight frown that tugged at his mouth. His dislike for the Supreme Leader's young apprentice hadn't lessened over the last couple months, despite his sudden bout of competence and maturity, and Ren clearly disliked him just as strongly. Still, they pretended to tolerate each other because their goals were the same.

"Lord Ren," he greeted as the Sith apprentice neared. As Ren passed by him, he fell into step beside him. "Status report," Ren said simply. It was a command, not a request. "The system has surrendered. None of the planets are offering any further opposition," Hux replied. "Then we move on to the next one," Ren replied. "Any progress on discovering the whereabouts of the Resistance?" Hux shook his head. "No, my Lord," he said, managing to force the words 'my lord' out despite how painful they felt to say. Ren turned to regard him from beneath his helmet a moment, then turned forward again. "You also have a message from the Supreme Leader," Hux continued. "He requests you contact him immediately." They rounded a corner in the hallway. "I'll contact him in my quarters," Ren said, and his tone made it clear that no further conversation was advised. Hux slowed his pace, allowing the Sith to move ahead of him. Hux quietly glared at Ren as he disappeared down the hallway.

/

As Ren entered his quarters, he gestured to the two Praetorian guards on either side of the door, dismissing them to guard out in the hallway. They left without a word, the door shutting with a hiss behind them. He walked over to the entrance to his holochamber and walked out onto the small path leading towards the center of the massive spherical chamber. As he arrived at the end of the path, a color hologram of his master, much larger than life, appeared. Ren wasted no time in kneeling; it was something he had quickly learned that was required of a Sith apprentice. He was supposed to kneel when greeting his master until instructed to rise; if he didn't, it was considered insubordination, and was punished accordingly.

"Lord Ren," Plagueis rumbled, his voice echoing throughout the room. There was something ironic, Ren thought, in being called 'Lord' by his own master. When Plagueis said it, it sounded more mocking than it did formal. "Has the Sterik system been subjugated?" Ren remained staring at the floor as he responded. "It has, my master. The New Republic forces in the sector have been completely crushed, and its citizens have surrendered to our rule." There was a small moment of silence, and Ren braced himself for the question he knew was coming. "And the whereabouts of the Resistance?" Plagueis asked. "We still have not found them," Ren said, constructing his response extremely carefully, "but I have informed General Hux he is to double his efforts to locate them." Another small pause. He tensed again. His master didn't appreciate lack of progress. "Inform General Hux that will not be necessary," Plagueis said finally. Now Ren looked up. "Master?" he asked, confused. "The time approaches where they will reveal themselves to us… willingly," Plagueis said. "Inform your forces they are to remain within the Sterik system until given further orders. I will summon you when I am ready." Ren lowered his gaze once more. "As you wish, my master," he said.

With a hum, the hologram faded, signaling the conversation was over. Ren rose to his feet slowly, ignoring the slight shake of anger in his hand. He turned and left the holochamber. As the door slid closed behind him, however, he suddenly felt something. A slight pull in the Force. He turned his head slightly, feeling the tremor. He'd felt it a few times before, the first time being a few days after Crait. Each time it grew stronger, but it faded before he could figure out where it was coming from. He'd never mentioned it to his master; he didn't know why, but he doubted Plagueis would be pleased if he knew. This time, the pull stayed, and he felt where it was coming from: Dantooine. He stood there silently as he considered what to do. His master had told him to have his forces remain in the Sterik system, but had said nothing of him, other than to await his summons; surely it wouldn't take much time or effort to investigate this, and then he would be free of distractions for when he was called to Plagueis' side.

His mind made up, he exited his quarters and headed towards the hangar, where his ship waited. He would find out what was calling him to Dantooine and why, and then he would return to his master, perhaps with good news.

Minutes later, Ren's shuttle left the hangar, and, pointed towards Dantooine, leapt into hyperspace.

/

Leia Organa let out a long, weary sigh; it was something she did a lot these days. She leaned on her cane, despite the fact that she was sitting on an empty supply crate, and looked around the makeshift base the Resistance had set up on the moon of Ajan Kloss. They were in a natural cave, the rocky floor covered with patches of moss here and there. A large opening on one side let in bright sunlight and gave a view of the surrounding forest that was both pretty and practical; they'd be able to see anyone coming, be they friend or foe. Both inside the cave and scattered around its mouth were makeshift computer terminals, manned by technicians busy monitoring for communications or running diagnostics. Ships were landed here and there in the forest, including Leia's own blockade runner, the _Tantive IV_, which was sitting on its landing struts, looming over their heads, in the cave, the booster sticking out of the mouth.

She turned her attention to Lieutenant Connix as she approached, her expression worried. "Any luck?" Leia asked her, already knowing the answer. Connix shook her head. "The Republic can't send any more support than they already have. It was already a risk sending us the platoon they did; they say if they send any more they risk short staffing themselves, or revealing our location." Leia sighed. Of course that was their excuse. The Republic claimed couldn't spare a single additional man; unlikely, even with their limited military resources. What was actually happening was that the politicians that had taken over the republic in the wake of the Senate's annihilation were more concerned for their own necks than anyone else. Why else would they have brought all the Republic's military forces to Coruscant and blockaded the planet, leaving everywhere else exposed? It was a miracle they'd even sent the first platoon; Leia supposed she should consider herself lucky they had anything.

"What about the others?" Leia asked. "They're still on Isoltre," Connix said. "Rey hasn't come back from the temple, and they're trying to repair the Falcon's coolant system." Leia sighed again. "They're our only hope, now," Leia said quietly. Connix didn't respond, and Leia looked down at the ground, hoping beyond hope Rey had found something that could save them all.

/

The forests of Isoltre were much drier than the ones on Ajan Kloss, where the atmosphere felt almost like soup. Here, the air was dry but comfortably warm. Gentle sunlight filtered through the canopy, and small reptilian creatures flitted through the branches on membranous wings. The quiet of the forest, however, was interrupted by a frustrated young woman running through the underbrush, with a small, spherical orange-and-white droid following behind.

BB-8 let out a chirp of concern, but Rey made no reply. She was quiet as she ran, jumping over fallen branches or swerving around stumps, but her frustration was plain on her face. She had been, until about seven minutes ago, searching through the archives of an ancient, abandoned Jedi temple. But she hadn't found what she was looking for. _Again_. Nothing on immortality or how to overcome it if your opponent had it. It was another dead end, another waste of time, another opportunity for the New Sith Order to cover more ground. She gripped her quarterstaff harder, slammed it into the ground, and vaulted over a small ditch that had been hidden from view by leaves that she had sensed, landing smoothly on the other side. She moved to keep running but stopped when she heard a whistle of alarm.

Rey turned to see BB-8 stuck at the bottom of the ditch. "Oh!" she said. "Sorry, BB-8!" She raised her hand and lifted the droid out of the ditch with the Force and onto the ground by her feet. "Are you alright?" she asked. He chirped an affirmative. She smiled. "Come on, we're almost back," she said. She turned and kept running, BB-8 behind her. After a few more minutes, the Falcon appeared through the trees, Finn underneath, using some training droids for target practice. As she watched, he shot down one, then another. He heard her approach and turned to her, and the third droid took the opportunity to fire off a non-lethal blast, hitting Finn in the back. Finn gave a cry of surprise and fell to the ground with a grunt. He rolled over onto his back and glared at the droid. "That was cheating," he protested. Rey thought the training droid somehow looked pleased with itself.

Rey came to a stop right in front of her fallen friend. "Need a hand?" she asked with a grin. She held out her hand, and Finn took it. "Very funny," Finn grunted as she pulled him to his feet. He turned to the training droid and, pulling out a remote, deactivated it. It fell to the ground with a small thunk, joining the other two on the ground (they were unharmed, as Finn had been using stun blasts). Finn picked up all three and put them in a crate near the ramp before closing the crate. "Any luck?" he asked as he turned back to Rey. Her smile faded. "No," she said, shaking her head. "There was nothing. I'm starting to think the Jedi didn't leave anything useful for future generations." She sounded annoyed. "Don't think like that," Finn said, "We'll find something." Rey just smiled sadly at him.

"How are the repairs going?" she asked. As if on cue, there was the noise of a small explosion from inside, followed by a string of curses and the angry howl of a Wookie. "I _am_ following your instructions!" the voice of Poe cried in frustration. "They're just completely useless!" Another angry roar, followed by a string of beeps and whistles from R2-D2. "Not well," Finn said with a grin. "Apparently." Rey shook her head. "Maybe I should go help them." Finn shook his head as well. "I'll go help them. You should take a break." He picked up the crate with the training droids and headed up the ramp. Rey sighed, then turned and walked a few meters away from the Falcon so that the noise faded. Sitting down in a relatively dry area, she crossed her legs, placing her hands on her knees. BB-8 watched quietly; he knew she needed silence to meditate. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing.

She'd done a lot more meditating in recent weeks; the stress of her situation would be overwhelming otherwise. Still, she wasn't particularly good at it; she'd sometimes lapse into memories while doing it. _Clear your mind_, she repeated to herself over and over, trying to do just that. _Feel the Force… clear your mind… clear your mind..._

/

"_Clear your mind," her master said to her again. He was sitting in a nearby chair, watching her calmly as she attempted - yet again - to meditate. Rey squeezed her eyes shut and tried to get all her thoughts to go away, but the harder she tried the more thoughts she had, until her mind was more crowded than it had been before. "I can't do it!" she cried in frustration, opening her eyes and standing up. "Every time I try, it just gets more crowded! Why do I need to medicate anyway?" Her master sighed. "Meditate," he corrected, "and it's an important part of being a Jedi. Meditation allows you to feel the Force, to strengthen your connection to it, and it also helps with stress. If something is overwhelming, meditating and feeling the Force can help you put it into perspective, and can even give you an answer to your problem you wouldn't have seen otherwise."_

"_But I don't have a problem!" the young girl protested. "And I can feel the Force anyway! Watch!" She raised her hand and made a small rock on the floor of the hut float into the air, then let it fall down again. "See? I don't need to meditate!" Her master sighed again. "There's more to the Force than just floating rocks," he said patiently. "The Force is powerful. Some people even believe it's sentient. If you can't feel the Force properly, you can't see what it wants you to do, and your judgement can become clouded." Rey huffed and crossed her arms, trying to look really angry so that her master would give up. From a workbench in the corner, her master's droid, who she called Bee because she couldn't remember his whole name yet, made a sarcastic comment about how similar she was to her master when he was young. She giggled, then remembered she was supposed to be angry._

"_Some day, Rey, you'll see the usefulness of meditating," her master said. "It's a great help." He got off his chair and crouched down onto his knees so that he was eye level with Rey. "But I have you for help," she said, meeting his gaze. "But one day you won't," her master replied. "One day you'll be on your own, to do things yourself." Rey pouted. "I don't want to be alone," she said. "I want to stay with you." Her master smiled fondly at her, and brought a hand up to brush a lock of hair out of her eyes. "You won't be alone," he said. "You'll always have the Force. And I'll always be with you through it." Rey returned his smile at this. Then he stood up and walked back over to his chair. "Now," he said as he sat down, "Try again. Picture your mind as empty as the vacuum of space. You are a conduit for the Force." Sitting back down and crossing her legs again, Rey closed her eyes. _Clear your mind_, she thought, _clear your mind…_._

/

Rey gasped as she suddenly surfaced from her memory. Her eyes fluttered open, and she leaned forward. Her heart was racing, and she took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. Slowly, her heart rate returned to normal, and she let out a shaky breath. Before she could try to clear her mind again, though, a familiar voice spoke up. "You know," it said, "meditating is supposed to calm you down, not make your stress worse."

Rey stood up quickly and whipped her head around to see Luke Skywalker walking towards her from the treeline. She froze in disbelief, before she noticed the blue glow surrounding him. A Force ghost. She relaxed slightly and met his eyes as he came to a stop a couple feet away from her. He was smiling. "I.." she started, at a loss for what to say. "I've been watching you," Luke said, cutting her off, though it's not like she was going to say anything else. "You've been searching for a while. It's Plagueis, isn't it?" Rey was quiet, but she nodded. Luke hadn't known that Snoke was Darth Plagueis when he died, but it only made sense he'd know after becoming one with the Force; his presence must have been a massive stain on the galaxy.

"I can't find anything," she said, allowing the despair she'd been holding in to be heard in her voice. Luke shook his head. "You won't," he said. "There's nothing in the Jedi archives." Rey paled, and her despair increased. "Then there's no way to stop him," she whispered hopelessly. But Luke was still smiling. "There is," he said. "But the reason it's not in the archives was because the Jedi erased it. They would never have even considered it." This didn't help much. "The Dark Side?" she asked. Was that the only way? But Luke shook his head again. "Not that, either. Not entirely, at least." Rey's despair was diluted with confusion. There was a way to stop Plagueis without the Dark Side, but it wasn't something the Jedi would like? What could that be? She opened her mouth to ask what it was, but as if sensing her thoughts, Luke spoke again. "I can't tell you," he said, and here his smile turned a bit sad. "It's for you to figure out."

"How?" she asked. "If you can't tell me, how will I figure it out? How will I know what to do?" Luke came closer and placed his hand on her shoulder, and she was surprised when she actually felt it. "You'll know when the time is right," he said. "Trust in the Force, and it won't fail you." Rey met his eyes, and she couldn't help but return his smile slightly. "So what do I do until then?" she asked, though she already knew the answer. "Return to the Resistance," he said, "you need to be with them for what's about to happen." She didn't ask what he meant; she thought she already knew. They were interrupted when a voice called from the Falcon. "Rey!" Finn called. "We're ready to go!" She turned to look and nodded at him, and he removed his hand from her shoulder, smiling again. "May the Force be with you," he said. She turned and headed back towards the Falcon, BB-8 following. At the base of the ramp, she turned back to look at him again, expecting him to be gone, but he was still standing there, smiling at her. She smiled back, then headed up the boarding ramp, closing it behind her.

A few minutes later, the Falcon lifted into the air and soared away, and Luke watched it leave with a smile before fading back into the Force.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Darth Ren could feel the Force's pull grow stronger as his shuttle sailed through hyperspace. By the time they exited into realspace to see the lush, green world of Dantooine below them, the pull felt like someone had tied a rope around his waist and connected the other end to a speeder. Ren guided the pilot as they descended through the atmosphere, who thankfully had asked no questions as to the nature of this trip. "Land here," he eventually said, pointing to a cliff very close to the pull. The shuttle set down, and the boarding ramp lowered. "Wait for me here," he said to the pilot, and then he descended the ramp. Gazing over the edge of the cliff, he sensed, more than saw, an ancient ruin on the field below. The pull was coming from within.

The descent to the ruin was easy, and took little time; he was standing before the ruin only a few minutes later. Now that he was closer, he sensed more than just the pull. The Force was strong here; the Light Side emanated from it in waves, but it was dulled by an imprint of darkness. This had been a Jedi Enclave, Ren realized. The history of the Jedi Order was something he'd learned eagerly while he was Luke's student; this particular enclave had been destroyed thousands of years before, during the Jedi Civil War. Why he'd been called here, he didn't know, but he planned to find out. He waved his hand, and the cracked, ruined door slowly forced itself to open. Ren walked into the dark interior, but stopped and turned when the door closed behind him.

His eyes narrowed beneath his mask at the sight. So. Either this was a trap, or it was a test. He suspected the latter, rather than the former; the only one who'd want to try and lure him into a trap would be the girl, but she didn't have the power to pull him halfway across the galaxy, and even if she did he would have been able to tell it was her. So either his master was testing him, or the Force itself was. Either way, Ren was determined to pass.

He pulled his lightsaber from his belt, and with a _Snap-crackle_, its blades appeared, illuminating the ancient hallway with a crimson glow. Raising it to light his way, Ren proceeded deeper into the enclave.

/

"So, where to next?" Poe asked as Rey took her seat in the cockpit. Outside, the sky began to turn from blue to black as they exited Isoltre's atmosphere. She strapped herself in before responding. "We're going back to Ajan Kloss," she said. Poe looked at her incredulously. Finn just looked surprised. "What do you mean, we're going back?" Poe asked in disbelief. "You mean we're giving up? We can't just-" Rey cut him off before he could continue. "We're not giving up," she said. "I'm listening to the will of the Force. And the Force says we need to return to the Resistance now. Something big is about to happen, and we have to be there to help when it does." There was silence following this proclamation, but Poe looked less incredulous. He'd learned to trust Rey, and if she said they needed to go back, then they'd go back.

Turning back to the controls, he punched in the hyperspace coordinates for Ajan Kloss and flipped the lever, and the stars elongated into streaks as they shot into hyperspace. "So how's the Falcon?" Rey asked after a moment. She wanted to keep everyone from speculating on what the Force was saying was about to happen. Including herself, even if she already had ideas. "Well," Poe said, sounding relieved that they had something to talk about, "after the last run-in with those pirates, the coolant system was damaged. We managed to restore enough function to it that we won't blow up in transit, though I'm still convinced we could have done more by rerouting around the broken section…" Chewbacca interrupted with a roar of protest. "It would have!" Poe said defensively. Chewie roared back that Poe might have been able to do that with his X-Wing, but that the Falcon's drive was different. The two began to argue about whether or not different repair methods would be more effective and the differences between starfighter hyperdrives and freighter hyperdrives.

Rey looked out the viewport at the stars and tried to tune out the argument. While it was a good sign that they were acting the same as they always had, she was just tired of listening to it. The two pilots would argue over the most pointless things, and their debates could continue for much longer than most people would be willing or able to argue. It was light-hearted a lot of the time, sure, but it was still exhausting to hear.

And it reminded her too much of Han and Chewie arguing.

She stood up very suddenly at that thought, and Poe and Chewie stopped arguing and looked up at her. "I'm going to use the refresher," she announced, and she turned and left the cockpit before anyone could say anything. She didn't stop walking until she'd reached the common area, and then she collapsed onto the couch that circled the Dejarik board table. She took a shaky breath and put her hands on her face. She'd been thinking about Han more recently; she supposed it had something to do with spending so long on the Falcon. Echoes of him in the Force were all over the ship, and even if they weren't, seeing so many things that used to be his would still probably have stirred up memories. Their time together had been brief, Rey knew - hadn't it only been a couple days? - but in that time Han had reminded her so much of her old master that she'd immediately grown attached to him. The pain of losing him hadn't faded, and every time she thought, the memory of him being killed by his own son, and falling into the chasm below like a discarded rag doll, came to her unbidden.

She leaned over the Dejarik board and gazed at her reflection. Her face was pale, but the only change in her appearance since she'd left Jakku were her eyes; they'd seemed to age years in the few months since Starkiller. They were harder somehow, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Aside from that, she looked the same; her hair was in the same style she'd worn it in on Jakku; she'd changed it on Ahch-To, but she'd since returned it to normal; it felt natural this way. Even her clothes were similar to her scavenger outfit. She looked down at it. While doing maintenance on the Falcon a month back, she'd opened one of the smuggler compartments to see a crate, and inside had been several sets of expensive-looking clothing. She didn't know if Han had put them there and forgotten about them, or if one of the other owners of the Falcon had done so, but it didn't matter. She'd taken a couple of them, and using her lightsaber, she'd cut them into strips and pieces. She wore them in the same configuration as her scavenger clothes, with the only difference really being that they were white and gray instead of light brown. Along with this outfit she wore a light grey jacket.

Han's death wasn't the only thing weighing on her mind. Luke's sacrifice, the massacre on Krait, Plagueis and her failure to find a way to defeat him… all these things swirled around in her mind, threatening to drown her in a sea of despair. She tried to avoid them by staying active, but right now, she had nothing to occupy herself, and they returned with a vengeance. Before they could get too strong, however, she heard approaching footsteps, and looked up to see Finn enter the room. He looked over at her, concern evident on his face. "Hey," he said as he came over and sat down next to her, "you alright? You looked pretty pale when you left…"

After a moment, Rey nodded. "It's just… I thought of Han." Finn nodded, his expression turning understanding. He too had been there to witness the man's death, and it weighed on him, too. "I'll be glad when we're back with the Resistance," she continued. "This mission only kept us away from doing anything useful." Finn put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he said, and she met his eyes. "We'll find a way to beat Plagueis." Rey sighed. "I hope you're right," she said. For a moment, there was silence. "How about a game of Dejarik?" Finn asked just as the silence became deafening. Rey smiled at his attempt to distract her. "Alright," she said. And as he turned on the game and the creatures that made up the pieces flickered into existence, Rey allowed herself to live in the moment, her thoughts of Plagueis and how to stop him forgotten temporarily.

/

The interior of the Enclave ruins was quiet and dark, with the only noise being Ren's footsteps as he walked down the hallway, using his saber to illuminate the path in front of him. Occasionally, he would pass a hole in the wall or ceiling, temporarily allowing sunlight into the hall, but the light was dimmed by curtains of moss that hung over the holes, and the interior would quickly become dark again after moving only a few feet away from the holes. Eventually, however, Ren emerged into what had once been a courtyard, and he sheathed his saber and placed it on his belt. He looked around.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and almost half of it was buried beneath a copious amount of dirt and rocks. The courtyard was roofless by design and not age. At the center of it, partly covered by the landslide of dirt, was an ancient tree that had likely stood here since well before the place had been abandoned. It was quiet save for the rustling of the tree's leaves in the wind and the occasional chirp of birds. Many would consider it beautiful, but Ren wasn't really paying attention to how the place looked.

The Force was strong in this place. It seemed to permeate everything, from the tree to the dirt mound. Even the ruins themselves seemed to hum with the power of the Force. It was mostly the Light Side, Ren noticed with a small amount of disgust, but it was joined by a thin layer of the Dark. Ren guessed it was a residual imprint from the event that had destroyed the place. That, or other Dark Side users had visited this place over the years. He supposed it could be both. Still, with the strength of the Force here, it was hard to isolate the pull that had brought him here.

After a moment, he found it, coming from the only other door out of the courtyard that wasn't buried. He headed through it. This hall wasn't as dark as the last one, as there were many more holes, but it was still dimmer than the courtyard. After a moment of following it, he emerged into a circular chamber, almost entirely dark save for a few rays of sunlight filtering in here and there through a couple cracks. There was no indication in the room's design as to what it had been used for, but the Force was much stronger here than anywhere else in the enclave. Racking his brain for all the info he'd learned on the place, Ren decided this must have been the chamber where the Dantooine Jedi Council had convened.

He was brought out of his thoughts from a noise behind him, and Ren turned to see that, like when he had entered the ruin initially, the ancient doors were somehow closing. With a resounding _boom_, the shut, leaving him trapped in the room. Then, to his right, another set of doors opened. Fog filtered in through the door, and Ren couldn't see anything beyond it. But he felt the source of the pull that had brought him here. It was a massive presence in the Force, an amalgamation of both Light and Darkness.

Then he heard it. A long, rattling breath that echoed throughout the entire chamber.

_Koooooh, Puuuuuuh. Koooooh, Puuuuuuh._

Beneath his mask, Ren's eyes widened. He'd heard that noise only once before, but he recognized it instantly. He watched silently as Darth Vader emerged from the open doorway. As he did, the doors closed behind him, sealing them both in the chamber.

Ren had been visited by Vader's ghost once before, soon after he'd destroyed his uncle's Jedi temple and fled to Snoke. He had come to him in his room and told him of the powers of the Dark Side. Ren had taken in every word, and after that had applied himself to Snoke's teachings with all his heart and soul, determined to become as powerful as his grandfather had once been, to make him proud. He might have grown to hate Plagueis, but the man's - if he could even still be called a man- teachings had allowed him to channel the power of the Dark Side easily. He knew that he was more powerful than any Jedi could ever be.

And now, once again, Vader stood before him. But there was something different about his presence this time. It felt stronger, even though the Darkness within him swirled together with Light. Ren couldn't figure out why his presence had changed, but it didn't matter. Vader had brought him here, and he would do whatever his grandfather asked of him. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head eagerly. He might have been forced to do so to Plagueis, but he did so of his own free will for Vader. He deserved no less. "Grandfather," he greeted. He looked up to see Vader was standing right in front of him, looking at him. For a moment, the only sound was Vader's respirator. "You have grown strong in the Dark Side," he said after a moment. "Plagueis has molded you to his will."

"He made me what I am now, but he does not control me," Ren said. He bowed his head again. "I had thought the Force had summoned me here, to test me," he said. "It has," Vader replied. Ren looked up in time to see Vader pull his lightsaber from his belt. "I am the test." With a _snap-hiss_, the blade ignited, bathing the chamber in a crimson glow. Ren stood up, confused. "I am to fight you?" he asked. "Yes," Vader replied. "In order to prove yourself a true master of the Dark Side, you must defeat me." Ren looked at his grandfather silently. Then he drew his own lightsaber. He understood; the Force had brought him here to prove himself as a Sith. And what better way to do so than to defeat the greatest Sith Lord of all time? If he defeated Vader, Force ghost or not, then he would show that he was a true Sith. And he would finally step out of Vader's shadow. He would finally be as strong as he had always wanted to be. He ignited his blade and raised it into a ready position. "Then I will," he said. Then he charged at Vader.

He brought his blade down, and Vader blocked it. Quickly stepping out of the block, Ren swiped at his opponent's legs, but that was also blocked. Vader retaliated with a swipe of his own, aimed at Ren's torso, but Ren dodged it. He swiped again, then again, but each strike was blocked with almost graceful ease. They fought, exchanging blows; Ren would strike at Vader, Vader would block, and then he would return a strike of his own, which Ren would block himself. Ren attacked with efficiency and strength, trying to break through his grandfather's defense with sheer strength. But Vader seemed untouchable; he blocked with such ease and grace, one might think he had seen the fight in advance and knew all of Ren's attacks.

Eventually, though, Vader seemed to grow tired of defending, and went on the offensive. Ren began having to block more than he struck, seeming to barely be able to keep up with Vader's attacks. Occasionally, he would push Vader back onto the defensive, but Vader always managed to turn the duel back in his favor after only a few seconds, pushing Ren back easily. After a couple minutes, Ren was almost against the wall of the chamber, and beginning to show signs of exhaustion. Finally, a gap in his defense opened up, and Vader turned and thrust his saber into the opening, hitting Ren on the chest. Ren cried out in pain and dropped his saber. He fell to his knees, clutching his side, where a tear in his robes revealed a shallow gash in his chest. He looked up to see Vader's blade pointed at his face.

"You are weak," Vader rumbled, "undisciplined." He deactivated his blade and replaced it on his belt. "No," Ren replied, anger filling him, "I'm not weak. The power of the Dark Side flows through me." Vader regarded him coolly. "You are weak enough," he said. "You will never defeat Plagueis with the Dark Side alone. You will always be his slave as a Sith." Those words cut Ren to his core, hurting more than Vader's blade had. Despair filled him. "No," he breathed, more to try and convince himself than Vader. "I _will_ defeat Plagueis. I will become the Dark Lord of the Sith and rule the galaxy." He met Vader's eyes, and for a moment, he swore the top right corner of Vader's mask had disappeared, revealing a small bit of brown hair and a blue eye. But when Ren blinked, the mask was the same as it had been before, and he wasn't sure if he'd actually seen it or not. "The path of the Sith is not yours to take," Vader said. Ren's despair only increased at these words. Had he failed his test so badly that his Grandfather no longer believed he could ever be a Sith? And, he thought to himself, if he was destined to be Plagueis' slave, maybe he didn't want to be.

"So what must I do?" Ren found himself saying, bitterness creeping into his voice. "Return to the Jedi? Beg for forgiveness?" He didn't like that option either. Luke was dead, yes, but he would still have his mother to deal with. He'd always been torn between believing that his parents had either known that Luke would betray, and had given Ren to him anyway, or had believed Luke would really train him to be a Jedi. Either way, he'd hated them; either they'd given him up to be killed, or they'd believed Luke was a good man and given him out of ignorance. He didn't want to face his mother, especially after having killed his father, and he definitely didn't want to become a Jedi again after they'd betrayed him. "No," Vader said, cutting through his thoughts. "The path of the Jedi is not yours, either." Ren stared. "Then what?" Ren asked, practically begging. "What is my path?"

There was a moment of silence, save for Vader's breathing. "Return to your master," he said after a moment. "There will soon come a time when you must make a choice. The fate of the galaxy hangs on your decision." Ren processed that. How was he supposed to know what choice that was? What decision did he need to make? What would happen to the galaxy if he made the wrong one? But Vader was already turning away. "Grandfather," he called. He wasn't ready for him to leave yet. He needed more answers. "Return to Plagueis," Vader repeated. "Only you can do what must be done." And then he was gone, with no sign he had ever been there. The doors out of the chamber rumbled open, and then all was silent, leaving Ren kneeling on the floor of the chamber, alone save for the torrent of thoughts swirling around in his head.

/

Ren's mind was still rather chaotic when he arrived back at his shuttle about ten minutes later. He walked up the boarding ramp silently, closing it behind him. "Go," he called to the pilot, and the pilot, nodding, raised the ship into the air, and they flew off. Ren sat down in the main cabin and stared at the opposite wall without really seeing it, still lost in his own thoughts.

Vader had said he needed to return to his master. He supposed that much made sense. But he also said that soon he would have to make a decision that determined the fate of the galaxy. What decision would that be? He assumed it would happen during the upcoming final phase of Plagueis' plan, but that still didn't tell him how he would know what decision to make.

His thoughts were cut off once more when he felt a summons through the Force, and his blood chilled. His master was calling him. He stood up and walked into the small alcove on the shuttle that contained a holoprojector. Kneeling before it, his master appeared. "Apprentice," Plagueis said, and Ren winced. He sounded displeased. "General Hux informs me that you departed the system in your shuttle. Why have you done so?" Ren's mind raced as he tried to come up with an explanation. "I sensed the girl," he said after a moment, trying to keep his voice even. "I thought perhaps I could find her and kill her, but she was gone by the time I'd arrived at the system I felt her in." Plagueis stared at him, his expression neutral, and Ren felt him probing at his mind. He forced himself to keep his mind blank of any information about what he had just been doing.

"Very well," Plagueis said after a moment, and Ren felt a small amount of relief when Plagueis' presence retracted from his mind. "It matters not. The time has come for my plan to finally be fulfilled. You are to return to your fleet and join the rest of the Sith Order at Coruscant." Ren looked up in surprise. "We are attacking Coruscant?" he asked. Plagueis broke into a grin. "Indeed," he said. "We will strike directly at the heart of the Republic. The Resistance will rush to their aid, and we will destroy them both. Hope will be extinguished from the galaxy, and the Sith will rule again." Ren stared at his master silently. "As you wish, master," he said after a bit. Plagueis continued to smile as his hologram faded, and as Ren stood, he knew that across the galaxy, his master had begun to laugh.

His shuttle entered hyperspace, bound for his fleet, and from there, Coruscant, where the final battle for the galaxy would take place.

Ren could only hope that when the time came for it, he could make the right choice

**A/N: Hello there, readers! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you liked reading it! Next chapter, Rey and the crew of the Falcon return to the Resistance, and from there, they (along with a special surprise character from canon) will join the Republic during the Siege of Coruscant, the final battle between the Sith and the Jedi (but certainly not between the Light Side and the Dark Side). As always, let me know of any mistakes I made or anything you liked, and I'll see you (but not really) next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**A/N: It wasn't clear last chapter, so I'll tell you guys now: Vader's Force ghost did not look like he did when he was alive. If you want to know what he looked like, look up "Riyahd Cassiem Vader ghost" and look at the first couple images.**

**This chapter begins the Siege of Coruscant, the final battle between the Sith and the Jedi. As always, lemme know what you think. Enjoy!**

Rey fidgeted nervously in her seat in the cockpit as the Falcon descended through the atmosphere of Ajan Kloss. It had been two months since she'd last been here, but it wasn't like they didn't know what was happening; they'd stayed in contact with the Resistance the whole time. Still, she couldn't help the feeling of trepidation that grew in her as they got closer to the Resistance base. It wasn't so much the fact that they were returning, she supposed, but rather the reason why they were doing so: the impending crisis. Rey was certain that the final battle was approaching, and she had no idea how it would end. Luke had said she'd figure out how to stop Plagueis when the time was right, but what if she didn't? Then everything would have been for nothing. The Sith would win, and finally defeat the Jedi for good.

She shook her head. _Don't think like that_, she chastised herself, _trust in the Force, and trust in yourself_. She looked up as the Falcon came in for a landing, and the second it had touched down, she was up, heading for the boarding ramp. She pressed the button to lower the ramp and headed down it. The warm atmosphere of Ajan Kloss washed over her as she stepped onto the mossy ground, and she looked around at the activity around her. Resistance members, some survivors of Crait and others Republic reinforcements, scrambled around, performing various duties, trying to maintain some semblance of order and professionalism. She looked around until she spotted who she was looking for: Leia, leaning on her cane and standing a few feet away.

Rey ran to her and wrapped her arms around her, earning a small chuckle from the older woman as she returned the gesture. "It's good to see you," Rey said when they finally stepped away from each other. "And you," Leia said. "Any luck?" Rey's smile faded, and she shook her head. "No," she said, "but I have to trust in the Force, and hope we find a way." Leia nodded at those words. They both turned to look as the others - Poe, Finn, Chewie, BB-8 and R2-D2 - descended the ramp. BB-8 and Poe went off to catch up with Poe's squadron. Artoo rolled off to find C-3PO. Finn stood there awkwardly for a moment, not sure what to do, before looking like he'd spotted someone and heading over to them. Chewie just stayed underneath the Falcon, doing a maintenance check.

Rey turned back to Leia. "Have you felt it? The Force? It's warning us about something. I think we might be heading towards the final battle." Leia nodded again. "I did feel it," she said. "That's why I've called in a favor." Rey's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked. "I gave the location of our base to an old friend of mine," Leia said. "With any luck, he should be here soon. He's a leader; with his forces, we'll be a bit better off than we are now." Rey was only more confused by this. "Is he Republic? Why haven't you called him before now?" Leia shook her head. "He's not Republic," she said, "and before now he had other things on his mind." Before Rey could ask what those other things were, Lieutenant Connix ran up to them. "General," she said to Leia, "there are ships exiting hyperspace. They're broadcasting the right clearance codes, but they're not ours." Leia nodded. "That would be him," she said to Rey, then turned to Connix. "Let them land," she said. Connix nodded and ran off.

Rey and Leia both looked to the sky, and all around them, Rey could feel others doing the same, no doubt curious about the visitors. For a moment, it was still and undisturbed. Then, several ships broke through the clouds, descending towards the camp. It took Rey a moment to recognize them, as she'd never seen them in person before, but when she did her eyes widened. "Gauntlet fighters," she whispered as the ships in question neared. "They're Mandalorians." Leia nodded again.

Rey had heard stories of Mandalorians, both from her master and the few people who were willing to talk to her back on Jakku. Fearless warriors, they'd said, following a creed that has existed before even the Old Republic. She, of course, had never seen any in her life; their numbers were low after the reign of the Empire, and why would any come to Jakku, anyway? So they'd remained more legendary than substantial.

Now, Rey watched them get closer, excitement building in her as she realized she would finally get to see these legendary warriors. As she watched, she noticed one ship leading the rest, this one a different model. She didn't recognize it. She watched as the ships landed, the lead one landing nearby.

For a moment, there was silence except for the steam hissing from the ship's hydraulics. Then the boarding ramp descended, and a figure came out. Rey froze in shock when she saw the figure. Suddenly, she knew exactly what the ship was.

She, and everyone else nearby, watched as Boba Fett walked down the ramp of the _Slave I_ and into the sunlight of Ajan Kloss.

His green armor glinted in the noon light, highlighting the dozens of scuffs and blast marks from countless fights. A braid of wookie hair hung down the right side of his torso, a trophy that signified the death of the wookie it had been taken from - a rare feat for anyone to accomplish. A cape hung behind his left shoulder, and as it fluttered in a passing breeze Rey saw the symbol of the Mandalorians - the tusked skull - embroidered on its back. Fett's face was hidden behind a black T-visor, an impassive, intimidating mask. Fett looked around silently for a moment, before spotting Leia and Rey, and began walking towards them. Behind him, Mandalorians emerged from the Gauntlet starfighters, standing near them and watching Fett. They, too, wore armor and T-visored helmets, and Rey realized it was probably the traditional armor of the Mandalorian warriors. A memory from when she was young came to her, of a man in similar armor arriving at Niima outpost for supplies in an old gunship… perhaps she had seen a Mandalorian once, after all.

Fett stopped a couple feet away from them. "Princess Organa," he greeted Leia, his voice coming out as a digitized rasp through his helmet's vocoder. "Boba," she said, nodding her head. Rey was still completely frozen from shock. She'd heard stories of Boba Fett, of course, mostly from her master. He was legendary. The best bounty hunter of all time. But… but… "you're dead," she blurted out, finding her voice. "You're supposed to be dead." Fett turned to regard her silently, and Rey instinctively took a step backwards.

After a moment, Fett turned back to Leia. "So this is the last Jedi?" he asked her. Leia nodded. "This is Rey," she said. She turned to the girl in question. "Rey, this is-" Rey spoke up again before she could finish. "Boba Fett," she said, "I know who he is. But he's supposed to be dead… isn't he? He got eaten by a Sarlacc?" Leia sighed. "I suppose you'd be out of date with some information, living on Jakku," she said. "Especially with more pressing things to talk about." _Like the First Order_, went unsaid. It was true Rey was rather out of date, she lamented; her master only told her stories relating to the Jedi or the Empire, and after he had left, most of her information came second hand. She would listen to the market vendors gossip to each other whenever she entered Niima outpost. The only reason she knew about the First Order or the Resistance was because it was all the vendors had talked about in the last few months before she'd left. "Fett survived the Sarlacc," Leia explained, drawing her from her thoughts. "We ran into him a few more times, but we reconciled." Rey understood "we" to mean her and Han, and she felt a pang of sadness.

"Solo helped me," Fett spoke up, and Rey turned to him. "With his aid, I was able to become Mandalore, leader of the Mandalorians." For some reason, when he said this, he gestured to what appeared to be a sword hilt hanging from his belt. For a moment, she wondered if it was some sort of lightsaber, but it looked nothing like any she'd seen before. "I promised him I'd repay him for his aid if he ever asked… but now he's dead. So to repay my debt, I've come to help you and your Resistance." Fett turned back to Leia. "You said the Sith are making their final move. When?" Leia opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, a rebel technician ran up to them. "General!" he said. "Sith Order ships have appeared over Coruscant! They're launching a full-scale attack!" There was silence following this proclamation. "Now," Leia said after a moment. Fett nodded. "Then we don't have time to waste. I'll ready my people; you ready yours." He turned and headed back towards where the Gauntlet starfighters had landed.

Leia turned to Rey. "This is it," she said. "There's no going back after this." Rey nodded. "Then we go together." She turned and headed off to find the others. She saw Finn talking to a girl she hadn't seen before and headed over. "Finn!" she called. He turned to see her, and after saying a hurried goodbye to the girl, he walked over to her. "So, is this what the Force was telling you about?" he asked, sounding like he already knew the answer was yes. She nodded. "This is what we've been waiting for," she said. "The final battle." Finn placed his hand on her shoulder. "So let's make it a good one," he said. They both turned and headed back towards the Falcon. As they did, they ran into Poe and BB-8. "Hey," he said. "I'll be leading the fighter squadrons. You guys gonna be ok?" Rey nodded. BB-8 rolled up to her legs and beeped sadly. She smiled, and leaned down to pat him on the head. "Stay safe out there," she said. "Both of you," she added, looking up at Poe as she stood up again. He nodded. "You too. May the Force be with you." And with that, he headed off to his X-wing, BB-8 behind him. Rey and Finn continued towards the Falcon.

They arrived to see Chewbacca by the ramp. He roared to them as they walked up to him. "What do you mean you're not joining the attack?" Rey asked in disbelief. "What are you doing?" He roared again. "Getting help? What do you mean? Aren't the Mandalorians enough?" He growled. "Alright, alright," Rey said, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. "Just don't take too long. We'll need everyone for this." He nodded, then growled again. Then, suddenly, he grabbed both Rey and Finn and gave them a crushing hug. Rey laughed and returned the gesture, then broke away. Artoo emerged from the crowd suddenly, Threepio behind him, and whistled to Chewie. Chewie headed up the ramp. "Now, you be careful, Artoo," Threepio said. "I'd hate for something to happen to you, especially after all we've been through." Artoo beeped a sarcastic reply. "Worry too much? Me? Don't be ridiculous," C-3PO protested. Artoo beeped something else and rolled up the Falcon's ramp. A moment later, the Correlian freighter took off into the sky. "I do hope they'll be alright," Threepio said. "They'll be fine, Threepio," Finn reassured the droid. "Come on," he said to Rey, "let's find a transport."

They headed back through the crowd, but didn't get very far before Leia encountered them. "Rey," she said. "There's something I want you to have." She pulled something wrapped in a cloth from her dress and handed it to Rey. Rey took it gingerly. The cloth was soft, like silk. It was the color of the sky, with gold edging. Rey unwrapped it to see a silver lightsaber, smooth and elegant. Rey looked up at Leia, who smiled at her. "I haven't used it since Luke and I last trained together, but I've held on to it. I noticed you like fighting with your staff, so I thought you might like having two blades on your side." Rey nodded. She wasn't sure what to say. "Thank you," she said after a moment. Leia nodded. "May the Force be with you," she said, and then she turned and disappeared back into the crowd of Resistance soldiers, likely heading for the _Tantive IV_, which would serve as the command vessel for the Resistance. Rey and Finn headed towards one of the transports and got on it, finding seats next to each other. The girl Finn was talking to before was there, too, and she waved. Finn waved back. "Who is she?" Rey asked Finn curiously. "Rose Tico," he said. "I saved her on Crait." Rey nodded in realization. A moment later, the transport's doors closed, and the ship took off with the rest of the Resistance fleet, leaving Ajan Kloss for the last time. Together with the Mandalorians, they launched into hyperspace, heading towards Coruscant, and the final battle.

As the ship moved through hyperspace, Rey pulled the quarterstaff from her back and Luke's saber from her belt. She placed the staff on her lap and held up the two sabers. She'd always preferred fighting with her staff, but she couldn't use it against a lightsaber for obvious reasons. She'd gotten a little better with a lightsaber since Starkiller, but now, maybe she could fight with her staff again. Igniting Luke's blade, she sliced off the ends of her staff, leaving the central pole. Pulling spare strips of cloth from her shoulder bag, she tied each saber to an end of the pole. Then she ran a strap from one of the sabers' activation switches to the other, so that one pull on the strap would activate both, then tied it to the pole too so it wouldn't dangle. When they were secured, she gave them a tug. They didn't move. It wasn't permanent, but it wouldn't come loose in a fight. She looked around the transport. Aside from Finn sitting next to her, there was a depressingly small amount of soldiers in the ship. There would be more, but she knew the Resistance wasn't planning to come back to Ajan Kloss; they'd taken all their ships, and had split the troops between them accordingly. On the plus side, that meant she wouldn't hit anyone if she activated the saber.

She pulled on the strap switch, igniting both blades at once. She twirled it slowly, being careful not to hit anything (including herself), then gained a bit of confidence and started twirling it faster. It felt familiar, comfortable; she'd trained to fight with her quarterstaff, since she couldn't make a lightsaber without a kyber crystal or the right saber pieces. As her master had put it, "The lightsaber is the tool of the Jedi, but it's not the only one." She twirled it a bit more, switching it from hand to hand, before stopping. She deactivated the saberstaff and turned to look at Finn, who was gazing at her in surprise. "That was amazing," he said as she sat back down. Rey smiled. "I've been using a quarterstaff since I was five," she said. "It'll be good to be able to fight with it again." She gazed at the severed ends of the staff on the seat next to her, then picked them up and put them in her bag.

They lapsed into silence, and despite the stress and fear she felt about the impending battle, she found her eyelids getting heavy, the hum of the transport's engines relaxing her, and after a few moments she found herself drifting off...

/

"_Watch this, Bee!" Rey called to her master's droid. "I'm gonna jump over that crate with my staff!" They were outside the hut they lived in, around back. Her master had gone to the nearby outpost, Niima, to purchase food, leaving her under Bee's watch. Bee chirped that he wouldn't advise it, but Rey would have none of it. She backed up against the wall of the hut, then broke into a run. Right before she crashed face first into the crate, Rey slammed the end of the staff into the ground. She sailed over the crate, and landed on her feet on the other side, stumbling a bit but catching herself quickly. She spread her arms, staff in hand and a big grin on her face. "Ta-da!" she proclaimed. Bee chirped a congratulations._

_Rey heard a noise getting closer, and turned to see her master's speeder on the horizon, getting closer. "He's back!" she cried happily. "Come on, Bee, race you around the hut!" She ran around to the front, Bee whistling in protest as he hurried after her. The both came to a stop by the front door as the speeder slowed to a halt a few feet away. Rey's master stepped out, holding a couple bags of food. "I trust you stayed out of trouble while I was gone?" he asked teasingly. Rey made a fake pouting face. "How could I get into trouble? We're in the middle of nowhere!" She spread her arms again, this time to indicate the vast expanse of empty desert around their hut, populated only by a few moisture vaporators. Her master laughed. "If anyone could do it, it would be you," he said. He placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair fondly. "Hey!" she complained. "Don't mess up my hair!" Her master just kept smiling. "Come on," he said. "Help me bring the food inside. You can help me make dinner."_

_Rey smiled at her master and walked over to the speeder to grab a bag of food. She leaned on the speeder, feeling it wobble under her as the repulsors keeping the speeder up struggled to compensate for the sudden addition of weight on one side. Then it wobbled harder, and harder, becoming almost violent…._

/

Rey jolted awake with a gasp. She sat up quickly, but before she could do anything else, she realized that the shaking in her dream hadn't just been in her dream; the transport was actually shaking. Suddenly, it gave a violent jerk, and Rey almost fell out of her seat. She felt a hand close on her arm to steady her, and she turned to see Finn holding her. "What's going on?" she asked. "Are we there?" Finn nodded, looking grim. "Welcome to Coruscant," he said, and the ship gave another shake.

/

The sight that greeted Poe as his X-wing exited hyperspace was like nothing he'd ever seen. He'd been in space battles, of course, but they were always relatively small, a couple squads of fighters on either side and maybe a capital ship or two. The closest he could think of was the First Order fleet chasing the Resistance evacuees a couple months ago, but that had been less of a battle and more of a chase. This was different.

The Republic didn't have many military assets, but what they did have was still impressive - about fifty capital ships with a few dozen fighters apiece, recalled from all over the galaxy to defend Coruscant. On the other side, the First Order had about an equal number of Destroyers and fighters. The two fleets were engaged in battle already, explosions flashing in the spaces between them. Far below, the lights of Coruscant shone brightly, forming patterns on the planet's surface.

Poe looked around his fighter as the Resistance ships exited hyperspace. His heart fell as he saw how few ships they had; the _Tantive IV_, a couple battered frigates, a dozen or so troop transports, and about thirty X-wings and half that many A-wings. There were a couple old Y-wings, too, but not many. He was somewhat reassured, however, when after a moment the Mandalorian fighters exited hyperspace as well; there were about fifty Gauntlet fighters, led by the _Slave I_. It wasn't much, but the New Republic would need all the help they could get. "Alright, everyone," Poe said into his comm, broadcasting to all the fighters, Mandalorian and Resistance alike. "This is it. This is what we've been waiting for. We win this, and the Sith are gone for good. The galaxy will finally be free. But if we wanna win this, we gotta give it everything we've got. And if we go down, at least we go down fighting instead of as Sith slaves. So who's with me?!" There were cheers from over the comm. "Then let's do this!"

He pushed his joystick forward, speeding up his X-wing, and he knew others were doing the same behind him. BB-8 gave an excited whistle from the astromech slot. Poe smiled. If this was the end, then at least he had friends. A moment later, the distance between them and the fleets had closed, and they were in the battle.

/

Leia watched the blue arrows signifying their fighters as they entered the fray. She followed them as they split up and flew through the battle, targeting enemy fighters. She could have sworn she knew which one was Poe from the way it moved around the hologram. Her attention was drawn from the hologram, however, by a Resistance technician talking to her. "General," the technician called, "we're in contact with the Republic forces. They say the Sith Order's already gotten ground troops past the fleet." Leia sighed. "Send the transports down to the locations their troops landed at. Reinforce the Republic troops there." The technician nodded. "General!" Connix spoke up. "Fett says he's taking some of his fighters down to the surface with him to reinforce our troops." Leia nodded in acknowledgement. "Where did the Sith Order's troops land?" Leia asked, curious, though she had ideas. "The Senate district, General," the technician from before said. Leia sighed again. "Of course they did," she muttered. She turned back to the hologram of the space battle. She watched as some of the arrows headed towards the planet and disappeared from the hologram. "May the Force be with you all," she whispered to them.

/

Plagueis observed the battle unfold overhead, a neutral expression on his face, his hands folded in front of his mouth. He was sitting in a heavily rayshielded glass dome, built into the front of the Star Destroyer _Voidsplitter_. He'd converted the observation dome into his new throne room since the destruction of the _Supremacy_. A regrettable loss in terms of firepower, but negligible in the grand scheme of things. He looked down at the throne room, his eyes passing over his Praetorian Guards. They were more than just soldiers or guards; they were the remnants of the Old Sith Order. A thousand years ago, when Darth Bane had activated the Thought Bomb, their ancestors had ignored Bane's summons, and thus avoided death. Instead, they had gone into hiding on Dromund Kaas. When Plagueis had been betrayed by the apprentice he had so foolishly trusted, his spirit drifted aimlessly for months until, by chance, he found them. Even formless, he was not powerless, and the Sith remnants were weak after a thousand years of hiding. It was a simple matter to bend them to his will, and using a complex Sith ritual, he was reborn. For decades, he had remained in hiding, maintaining his connections without his apprentice being aware of him, watching Sidious flounder his way through the Grand Plan, waiting for an opportunity. And now, here he was. Ready to bring centuries of Sith planning to fruition.

His gaze landed on his apprentice, standing next to the base of his throne. Plagueis frowned internally. He sensed conflict within the boy, but it mattered not; The boy posed no threat, and while it would be a shame to have to kill him, especially when he was the last of the Skywalker line, Plagueis would have no problem doing so if it came to that. But for now, at least, he still had uses. Plagueis suddenly sensed someone approaching, and turned to the door to the chamber as Armitage Hux entered. He walked to the center of the room and stopped. "Supreme Leader," Hux began, using Plagueis' old title. "The Resistance has arrived to aid the Republic. They've brought help - Mandalorians."

Plagueis though on this for a moment, then grinned. The Mandalorians had been the only other group that he saw as a threat to his rise to power. If they had come now, then he could wipe out all his rivals with one stroke. "Very well," he said aloud. "General Hux, prepare my shuttle. I wish to travel to the surface." Hux nodded. "It will be done, my Lord," he said, and he turned and left. "Apprentice," Plagueis said, turning to Ren. "The last Jedi is among the ground forces. You will find her and kill her. The Jedi Order cannot survive any longer." Ren looked up at him, then nodded. "As you wish, master," he said, barely hidden hatred in his voice at the word "master". Without another word, he turned and left the chamber as well. Plagueis watched him go with a sinister smile on his face. Soon, all his enemies would be dead, and he would rule the Galaxy.

/

Rey stood up with the rest of the soldiers when they felt the _thunk_ of the transport hitting the ground. With a hiss of hydraulics, the ramp opened, and the soldiers began moving out. Rey and Finn were last out, along with the pilot himself. They emerged into a large, sunlit courtyard, bordered with the tops of buildings on three sides and overlooking a massive chasm on the fourth. A wide bridge ran over this chasm. Beneath it, thousands of hover vehicles soared by, all heading in one direction; the citizens were being evacuated to a safer location, it looked like. Looming in the distance, about two kilometers away, was the massive dome of the Senate building. The transports were all arranged in a circle around the center of the courtyard, where a tree sat.

"Why did we land so far from the Senate building?" Rey asked. "I though that's where the Sith Order was attacking." The pilot nodded. "They've set up AA guns around the base. They're to keep the Senators inside from evacuating, but they could just as shoot down incoming reinforcements for the Republic troops inside." As if to accentuate the point, a large fireball suddenly appeared above the Senate building. The noise of the explosion reached them a moment later. "So we need a plan to get past them," the girl from the transport, Rose, said. "Anyone have any ideas?" Rey watched as everyone looked around at everyone else, before gradually all the soldiers turned to look at Finn.

Rey wasn't surprised by this; after Crait, which she'd heard about from Finn and Poe, Finn had become a sort of leader in the Resistance. With a small grin, Rey realized that Finn was now the 'big deal' he'd claimed to be when they'd first met. She'd pointed this out to Finn once on their journey, who'd become a bit embarrassed by the thought of their first meeting. Rey was drawn back to reality when Finn began speaking. "Ok," he said, "so. Anyone got a holomap?" One of the engineers pulled one out. Finn took it and activated it, revealing a map of the entire Senate District. He zoomed in until the map showed only the area immediately below the Senate building. "So they have AA guns set up around the base, right?" A couple of the pilots nodded. "Here," one said, taking the holomap for a moment. Fiddling with the controls, they placed red dots in a circle around the building's base.

"Thanks," Finn said, taking the map back. "I know how First Order AA guns work. They're pretty powerful, but they're slow. And it goes without saying they can't target ground troops. They also have a limited range of motion, which is why they've set them up as close together as they did. They've made a wall around the building. But if we take out a couple of the guns…" two of the red dots disappeared. "... then we make a gap in the wall for the Senators to evacuate through. If the Senators get away, this whole siege will be for nothing. The Republic will survive."

"How do we take out the guns, though?" Someone asked. "Anyone got any detonators?" Finn replied. Several people held up large bags of detonators. Finn nodded. "We'll split up into two teams," he said. "Team one distracts the soldiers guarding the guns by attacking them. While the Stormtroopers are occupied, team two sneaks past them and plants detonators on the AA turrets. Then we get to a safe distance and blow them up. After that, we signal the Republic forces inside that they're clear to evacuate." One of the pilots spoke up. "They wouldn't all stop guarding the guns unless they thought we were enough of a threat. We don't have enough soldiers to pull that off."

"I might be able to help with that," a voice said from behind the crowd. Everyone turned to see Boba Fett enter the courtyard, leading about thirty or so Mandalorians. Rey stared at them. Now that she wasn't so focused on Boba Fett, she noticed that each Mandalorian actually had unique markings and colors on their armor. Each one customized their armor to reflect themselves. As a former scavenger, who was used to uniform colors and identical machine parts, It was fascinating, but, Rey reminded herself, she hardly had time to examine each Mandalorian, nor, she was sure, would they let her.

Finn nodded at the Mandalorians. "There we go." He turned back to the Resistance soldiers. "Any more questions?" Nobody said anything. Everyone had looks of steely determination on their faces. "Alright," Finn said, "then let's go." He looked over at the Senate building, then up at the sky, where distant explosions could just be made out through Coruscant's atmosphere.

"We've got a galaxy to save."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

If you'd asked Rey a year ago what she'd be doing now, she might have given you a few answers. None of them would have been anywhere close to what she was doing now: walking into battle against the Sith Order on Coruscant, soldiers behind her and Boba Fett next to her.

Rey couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as they neared the base of the Senate building. The expanse around the building was empty and flat, a bare plain of steel, save for a few massive statues lined up along the main path to the building. It would have been easy to spot them approaching from a kilometer away, but the Stormtroopers hadn't fired yet. As they got closer, Rey could see the troopers standing around the AA guns and near the entrances. They all had their blasters trained on the approaching crowd, but it seemed they were waiting for orders to fire.

The group came to a stop about a hundred meters from the line of Stormtroopers. Rey turned to look at the soldiers behind her. They were all ready, looks of determination on their faces. She shifted her gaze to Fett, who met her gaze evenly beneath his helmet. "Are you ready?" she asked. "Of course," he replied. There was a short pause. "Been a while since I've fought with a Jedi," he said. "When was the last time?" Rey asked, curious. "Fifteen years ago," Fett replied. "Skywalker. He and I fought off a pack of Rakghouls together in the Taris Undercity." Rey wanted to ask what a Rakghoul was, but figured now wasn't the time. "You should give the order to charge," she said instead. "I'm not a leader." Fett looked at her. "I'll lead my people," he said simply, "you lead yours."

Placing his blaster rifle on his back, Fett pulled the strange handle Rey had seen earlier from his belt. With a _hiss_, a black, single edged blade emerged from the handle. Rey stared at it. So it _was_ a lightsaber, but not like any other saber she'd seen or heard about. But she didn't have time to ask about it now. "We go together," she said to Fett, who nodded in response. Rey pulled her saberstaff from her back and ignited it. For a moment, the only sound was the three saber blades crackling softly. Then Rey yelled wordlessly and ran forward. Behind her, she could feel the others running as well, many of them yelling like her.

Apparently, charging at them was finally enough to let the Stormtroopers fire, because crimson bolts began soaring past. Rey deflected any that came her way easily, being careful not to accidentally send them flying towards any of her allies. A few seconds later, they reached the line of troopers, and Rey lunged into their ranks. She swung her saberstaff, blocking lasers and cutting down Stormtroopers, and she marveled at just how easily she could use it. Then again, she had been using this staff all her life that she could remember, and even if it was now a lightsaber, and a bit longer, it still handled the same.

She slashed one blade across the chest of a Stormtrooper, blocking a volley of blaster fire with the other. She thrust the staff backwards and impaled a trooper, then pulled the blade out and threw her saberstaff, cutting down three troopers before calling it back to her hand. A group of them fired at her, and she twirled the staff, blocking the fire and reflecting a few bolts back at them. As they fell, a crimson-armored Sith Trooper appeared, wielding a riot baton. For a moment, Rey wondered why there weren't more of them, then realized they were probably mostly inside, hunting the senators and Republic troopers. The Sith Trooper swung his riot baton, and she blocked it with one blade. He swung again, and she blocked it with the other. On the third swing, she twisted the saber, causing the baton to fly out of the trooper's hand, and she slashed her other blade across his chest, cutting him down.

As she turned, she saw troopers running towards them from the other AA guns. That was good; their plan depended on drawing the other troopers around the building here, or at least the ones nearby. Still, while they were hoping for it, it didn't change the fact that if they took too long, they'd slowly be overwhelmed. Not to mention the more time passed, the greater the chance of the troopers in the building finding and killing the Senators. _Hurry up, Finn_, she thought desperately as she deflected more laserfire, _we don't have all day_.

/

The flat expanse of concrete and steel around the Senate building was, aside from the statues lining the path to the main entrance, interrupted by staircases close to the doors, providing uneven ground on otherwise flat terrain. Which was lucky, because otherwise Finn and the others would have had no place to hide while they waited for the security around the AA guns to thin. Finn peeked over the top step, watching the troopers run towards the commotion about fifty meters to their right. Finn thought he could see where Rey was in the fray by the sight of her sabers, but it was hard to tell if the light was from her blades or laser fire. He turned his attention back towards the nearest AA gun to see the security around it had been reduced to three nervous looking stormtroopers.

"Alright," Finn said, turning to the others. "Now's our chance." The rest of team two consisted of Rose, another Resistance soldier with brown hair and gray eyes that he'd never met, and two Mandalorians, a male and a female. The male wore orange armor, and the female wore brown. Each of them, Finn himself included, had a bag of detonators strung around their neck. "Let's go. Stay quiet. If we make too much noise, some of them will come back to fight us off, and then the whole thing falls apart." Everyone else nodded, and followed Finn as he climbed to the top of the staircase, crouched, and moved quietly towards the nearest AA gun. One of the troopers was sitting at the controls of the gun, peering through the scope out of boredom, and the other two were switching their gaze between the battle unfolding at the next AA gun over and the doors into the building.

"I think I see some Mandalorians over there," one spoke nervously. "Eh, so what?" the other said, sounding indifferent. "We still outnumber them. Their mistake siding with the Republic." Finn sped up a bit, hoping they wouldn't hear him over their own conversation. "I dunno man," the first one replied. "Haven't you heard the stories about them? I hear some of them have taken out entire garrisons of soldiers solo." The second one turned to the first. "I don't think that's-" before he could finish, Finn tackled him to the ground. "Hey!" the other yelled in protest, raising his blaster, but the male Mandalorian was on him in a second, ripping the blaster out of the trooper's hands, then grabbing his helmet and twisting to the side, snapping the soldier's neck. The other Mandalorian, meanwhile, had fired a poison dart into the neck of the trooper sitting at the gun controls, and their body slumped forward and fell out of the chair.

"Alright," Finn said, getting off the body of the trooper he'd tackled. "Let's plant these detonators and then move to the next gun. Then we give the signal and run like hell." The others nodded. Together, the pulled detonators out of their packs and planted them on the gun's base. When they were done, each had used half their pack. Finn nodded to the others. "Let's go," he said. They all crouched down and moved to the next gun. This one went similarly at first; they took out the troopers guarding it without blasters and started planting detonators. But just as they were planting the last of them, a voice from behind them yelled "Hey!" Finn turned to see three Sith Troopers emerging from the nearest door into the building. Their armor had several blaster burns on it. He didn't know why they'd come out of the building, but what mattered was that if they warned anyone then they were done.

One of them raised their arm to speak into their communicator, but the male Mandalorian tackled him before he could use it. The female one drew a vibroblade and pounced at a second one, who blocked her swing with his baton. The third one raised his blaster rifle and fired at Finn, Rose, and the other Resistance soldier. Finn dived to the floor, drawing his blaster pistol as he did; there was no point in silence anymore. The detonators were planted; if more stormtroopers arrived, Finn and Rose had agreed, they'd set off the detonators. That way, at least their mission would succeed, even if they wouldn't live to see it. He fired at the trooper, but the soldier rolled out of the way. Unfortunately for him, when he came up from his roll, he was immediately hit in the face by Rose's boot. He cursed and fired his rifle blindly, hitting the other Resistance soldier in the chest. "No!" Rose yelled as the unnamed soldier dropped to the ground. She drew her pistol and shot at the Sith Trooper. He tried to dodge again, but the blast hit his rifle, causing it to spark. He threw it to the ground and drew his baton.

Meanwhile, the other two troopers were each engaging a Mandalorian. The male was fighting hand-to-hand, while the female was exchanging blows with a vibroblade. Finn realized he didn't have a melee weapon, but Rose drew a short metal pole and lunged at the third trooper. Finn watched, blaster raised to fire, but he couldn't get a clear shot without hitting Rose. He groaned internally, feeling completely helpless. Still, he kept aiming, hoping an opportunity would come.

Soon enough, it did. The Sith Trooper knocked Rose to the ground, and she gave a grunt of pain as she fell, the metal pole falling from her hand. As the Sith Trooper raised his baton to finish her off, Finn fired, hitting him squarely in the back. He collapsed to the ground instantly. Finn ran over to Rose and offered her a hand. "You OK?" He asked. Rose nodded as she took his hand and got to her feet. "Thanks," she said shakily. They turned to see that the Mandalorians had dispatched their Sith Troopers and were waiting for them. He nodded at them, then raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke into his communicator. "Rey, this is Finn," he said. "The charges are planted and we're getting out of here. Tell the others to fall back." Then he lowered his wrist and turned to the others. "Let's go," he said. They started running, but Rose stopped suddenly and went back. Finn turned and watched as she leaned down next to the body of the fallen soldier and closed his eyes. When she stood back up and came back over to them, there were tears in her eyes.

Finn didn't say anything as they turned and kept running.

/

Rey's commlink chimed, and after cutting down the trooper who was firing at her, she raised her wrist to hear it. "_Rey, this is Finn_," came Finn's voice. "_The charges are planted and we're getting out of here. Tell the others to fall back_." Rey lowered the communicator and turned to Boba Fett, who was nearby, cleaving a Sith Trooper in half with his strange lightsaber. "Boba!" she called. He turned from the body of the trooper to her. "They planted the charges! We should go!" He nodded, then turned to the other Mandalorians. Rey turned to the Resistance soldiers. "Fall back!" she yelled, as loudly as she could. They seemed to hear her, because they began pulling away.

As Rey made to follow, she paused and turned to the AA gun they'd been fighting next to. _It wouldn't hurt to take out one more_… she thought. "Fett!" she called. Once again he turned to her. She pointed to the AA gun. "We should take this one out, too!" He nodded, then turned to the gun. Bending over slightly, he pressed a button on his wrist. The rocket mounted on his jetpack fired, soaring overhead and hitting the barrel of the gun. With a massive burst of flame, the gun exploded, raining burning shrapnel on the Stormtroopers unfortunate enough to be near it.

Satisfied, Rey turned again and ran after the others, Fett doing the same, deflecting blaster bolts back at the stormtroopers. They stopped firing, however, when suddenly two more explosions sounded. The troopers turned to see two more AA guns get blown sky high. As they stood in silent shock, the Resistance troopers ran further away. As they got to the set of statues closest to the building, they saw four people running up to join them. Finn was in the lead, a small smile on his face. Rey smiled back at him. Finn turned to a Resistance soldier. "Contact the soldiers in the building," he said. "Tell them they can get out of there." The soldier nodded, and began speaking into his comm. As they watched, the first ship raised into the air and flew off. Finn turned back to Rey. "You think we should stay and help them evacuate?"

"I think we are helping them," Rey said, pointing. "Look." A large number of the Stormtroopers that had been around the building were running towards them, with the crimson flash of Sith Troopers scattered among them. Finn paled. "We should…" Rey nodded. "Get back to the ships," she finished. "We can hold them off there." She turned to the soldiers. "Back to the ships!" she yelled loudly. They all began running. As Rey followed, she dimly wondered when she'd become a leader.

Maybe this was how the Jedi who'd been generals in the Clone Wars had felt about it at first.

/

"I need some help over here!" Poe yelled into his comm as he tried to shake the Special Forces TIE Fighter. He dodged another volley of blaster fire, then did a sharp ninety degree turn downwards, then a corkscrew spin. The SF TIE managed to stay locked onto him the entire time. BB-8 whistled in alarm. "I know, buddy, I know!" Poe replied. "I'm trying!" Poe swerved around the debris of a destroyed fighter, which was so burned he didn't know which side it had belonged to. "If anyone felt like helping, now would be a great time!" Poe said into his headset. This time, a voice answered. "Don't worry, Poe, I got it!" a female voice said. A moment later, the SF TIE suddenly burst into flame and exploded.

"Thanks for the asist!" Poe said into his comms, a relieved smile on his face. It only lasted a moment, though, as he looked around at the rest of the battle. It was hard to tell who was winning, or if anyone was. It looked like they'd lost just as many fighters as they'd taken down. He switched comm channels. "This is Poe Dameron to the _Tantive IV_," Poe said. "How's our fleet looking?" There was a pause before he got a response. "_This is Tantive IV_," came the reply. "_Both the Republic and Sith fleets have suffered heavy losses. It looks like 30% loss on both sides, but it's slowing down._" Poe sighed. So they were locked in a stalemate. Great. It wasn't a loss, and as long as they kept fighting, the Sith fleet wouldn't be able to get closer to the planet to blockade it fully, but if this kept up then eventually both fleets would be exhausted and damaged. Then it would be up to the ground forces, and Force knew they were outnumbered on that front. They needed to come up with a plan, and soon, or this battle would be lost.

But as Poe weaved around more laser fire and downed a TIE Fighter chasing one of his squadmates, absolutely nothing came to mind.

/

The central of spire of the building that used to be the Jedi Temple had once housed the chambers of the Jedi High Council. The twelve Council members would meet to discuss the Jedi Code, the will of the Force, and the status of politics in relation to themselves. Then the Jedi Purge had happened, the Republic had become the Empire, and Emperor Palpatine had made it the seat of his power, the high council chambers themselves becoming his throne room, the new seat of Sith power in the galaxy.

Plagueis would give his apprentice this: his sense of irony and symbolism had been impeccable.

Since the Empire's fall, the palace had been left untouched, as no one had been really sure what to do with it. Which meant that when Plagueis and his Praetorian Guards arrived in their shuttle, everything had still been as it had been prior to Sidious' death. Now, Palpatine's throne belonged to his master, and soon enough it would be the seat of Sith power once more. Plaguies leaned forward in his seat, hands placed together, and observed the hologram of General Hux as it spoke to him.

"_Both sides have suffered equal losses_," Hux was saying. "_We've been locked into a stalemate. Their forces are stronger than we anticipated; we don't have the numbers necessary to crush them._" Plaguies growled softly and closed his eyes, thinking. Then he opened them again. "The time has come," he announced. "General Hux… inform our assets at the scrapyards that they are to join us at last." Hux's face broke into a grin. "_Yes, my Lord_," Hux said with a bow, and then the hologram faded. Plagueis leaned back in his seat, smiling as well. The Republic thought they could hold their own against his forces; they were sorely mistaken. It didn't matter, either, that the Senators had evacuated the senate building. They would still die. He would raze the entire planet if he had to.

The Republic died today, and nothing they did would stop it.

/

_Bracca shipbreaking yards_

Bracca was a planet covered by scrap yards, places where droids, speeders and ships were stripped for any usable parts and then left to rot. Since the fall of the Empire, the planet had been divided into sections, with each section of scrapyard being owned by a corporation or government that received most of the credits that came out of the operations in that sector. One particularly large sector had been purchased about fifty years previously by a company called Damask Holdings. In the eyes of the scrappers in the neighboring sectors, nothing was notable or different about the sector.

However, it was one of several sectors of scrapyard owned by Damask Holdings, with the others each being on a different scrapyard planet to avoid suspicion. Discreetly, the scrappers that had worked in these sectors had been replaced with people loyal to the CEO of the company. They had been given a new purpose, and they followed it well. For over fifty years, the ships brought into those sectors remained. For over fifty years, more were added. For over fifty years, the ships had been, rather than broken down, refit and repaired. For over fifty years, the scrappers, some replaced by younger faces, but each still as loyal as the last, had waited for their signal.

And now, at last, it came. The encrypted message was broadcast to every scrapper in the employ of Damask Holdings across the galaxy. The response was instantaneous and efficient. At scrapyards all across the galaxy, fully repaired and functional Star Destroyers rose into the sky, each containing hundreds of starfighters apiece. Each ship was crewed by the scrappers that had repaired it, along with thousands of repaired and reprogrammed battle droids. The ships were from all sorts of eras and factions - Old Republic _Venators_ and _Acclamators_, Seperatist _Munificents_ and _Providences_, and Imperial Star Destroyers.

And here, on Bracca, was arguably the most intimidating sight of all: a fully repaired Super Star Destroyer, slowly rising into the sky, thousands of tons of carefully concealing scrap metal sliding off its frame and to the ground below. Scrappers in neighboring sectors could only watch in shock and confusion as it rose into the sky and disappeared into the upper atmosphere. A moment later, it broke the orbit of Bracca. All around the galaxy, hundreds of capital ships did the same, and a moment later they leapt into hyperspace, bound for Coruscant, and the battle raging above and on it.

/

When the first few ships came out of hyperspace, Poe was confused. Then they started firing at the Republic fleet, and his confusion quickly changed to horror. Especially as more and more ships appeared in orbit around the planet, until it looked like there were more Star Destroyers than actual stars. Suddenly the amount of laser fire had increased tenfold, and too much of it was aimed at him and his allies. It only got worse when dozens of starfighters emerged from the ships. Like the ships, they were from all sorts of time periods - Republic V-wings, Seperatist Vulture Droids, Imperial TIE Fighters. He didn't understand. "Where did all these ships come from?!" He yelled, more to himself than anyone over the comm.

Not only did he want to know where they'd come from, he wanted to know where they'd gotten the manpower for it. The Sith Order didn't have the assets for this… did they? The only way they could have was if they'd had people hidden, waiting for a signal, but they would have had to have been hidden for a long time, especially if they'd had to repair all these ships. Poe paled. Had the Sith been hiding among them this entire time? Did Plagueis plan for everything to happen exactly as it did? Maybe even the Emperor betraying him had been part of his plan, to make the galaxy feel like the threat was over after the Empire was defeated and lower their guard. If that was his plan it had clearly worked; the Republic had barely had the power to push back the Sith Order's base forces, but now….

BB-8 whistled loudly, cutting through Poe's thoughts, and he rolled to the right just in time to dodge a volley of laser fire from an old droid tri-fighter. A steely determination gripped Poe as he dodged another volley. If this was the end, he was gonna make sure he went out with a bang.

Steering his fighter around some debris, he suddenly jerked the joystick sharply to the left. His fighter did a sharp 180, and suddenly he was face to face with the tri-fighter. He pulled the trigger, and laser fire sheared into the fighter's plating, blowing it up in a massive conflagration that Poe's X-wing flew right through, with a couple new burn marks but otherwise unscathed. BB-8 whistled happily, and Poe allowed himself a small grin.

Smile still in place, he turned his attention to the next target.

/

Far below, in a wide alleyway filled with soldiers, Rey could only watch in shock as the battle above completely changed. Suddenly, their forces were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. "No," she whispered in horror. Poe, BB-8, Leia… She looked over to Finn, who had gone extremely pale. "We need to get back to the transports," she said. "_Now_." As if to accentuate her point, the noise of the Stormtroopers pursuing them grew closer. The group began running again.

"I don't remember the ships being this far away," Finn panted as they ran. "They're just a bit further," Rey called back. They made a few more turns, navigating the walkways of the upper city. Rey heard noises overhead and looked up. Far above them, troop transports were descending into the atmosphere. Reinforcements, from the new ships. Rey was terrified, but she was also confused. The Sith Order didn't have any more troops than what was already on the ground, so what was in the transports?

The transports were pushed out of her mind completely, however, when they made the final turn and arrived at the end of the bridge leading to the courtyard. At the center of the bridge, standing between them and the transports, were ten figures with various masks and weapons, and standing in front of them was a figure Rey hadn't seen since Crait. Everything seemed to become distant and cold. "Ben," she whispered. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to face him again. Part of her knew she never really would have been anyway, even if years had gone by.

Ben stood there, observing the Resistance soldiers silently. Behind them, Rey could hear the Stormtroopers finally catch up and come to a halt, but the sight of the Knights of Ren seemed to catch their attention, too, because there was no noise of blaster fire. Everything was silent for a while save for the noise of the speeders soaring by below the bridge, headed for some evacuation point. Eventually, Ben spoke. "Look up," he said to the Resistance soldiers, his voice magnified with the Force to echo across the bridge. "This battle is over. This _war_ is over. You've lost. But I'm willing to offer you mercy once again." His gaze seemed to focus directly on her, and Rey felt like it was stabbing her through the chest. "Surrender, and you will be spared."

There was another moment of silence. Then Rey stepped forward, her face carefully set in a look of determination. She drew her saberstaff from her back and ignited it. Nobody else moved. Rey turned to Finn. "I'll deal with him," she said. "Just get everyone somewhere safe." She wasn't sure how he'd do that, and she knew he wasn't either, but he still nodded. Then she turned back to Ben, her saberstaff held out in front of her. Suddenly, she lunged at him, her blade aimed at his chest. He didn't move at all until she was right on top of him.

Then, faster than the eye could follow, he pulled his saber off his belt and ignited it. With a crash, he blocked her strike, pushing against the blade. She tried to swing the other blade at him, but he pulled away from the first and blocked the second. He swung at her face, and she brought up a blade to block his strike. She backed out of the block and swung at his abdomen in one direction, then the other, but he blocked both swings. She swung diagonally at his head, but he blocked it with tremendous force, pushing the saber back and scraping the bridge with it, leaving a red-hot divot in the metal.

They exchanged a rapid series of blows, with Ben on the offensive and Rey just managing to block all his strikes. Had she not had her saberstaff, it was likely she would have died already with all the ferocity Ben was pouring into his attacks, but thanks to the second blade she could block and strike twice as fast. Still, it was all she could do to avoid getting hit. She was being forced to back up, slowly, getting close to the edge of the bridge. Behind her, the ground dropped away, a massive chasm that ended thousands of feet below on hard pavement.

Ben swung at her face again, and she brought a blade up to block it. He pushed against her block, slowly angling both blades back towards herself. She pushed as hard as she could, but the blades slowly inched closer to the flesh of her shoulder. Directly behind her was open air. Rey looked down at the chasm, and all the speeders flying by, and suddenly she had an idea.

Without a second thought, she broke the saber lock and jumped off the bridge.

She landed with a huff on the hood of a taxi speeder. The alien driving it gave a shout of protest, but Rey ignored him. She got to her feet and looked at the rapidly receding bridge to see Ben jump after he, landing on another speeder. She saw him take control of the speeder from the driver with the Force, speeding the vehicle up to come level with Rey's own. As the speeder drew up alongside them, Ben swung at her again, and she blocked it. He broke the block and swung again, and she dived out of the way. Both speeder drivers gave noises of terror, and dimly Rey noticed that one of the police speeders guiding the evacuation was trying to pull up alongside them. Ben noticed, too, and threw his saber at it. It exploded with a roar. Rey would have been horrified, but she knew the police were droids.

Seeing her opportunity, she lunged at Ben while he was saberless, but he raised his hand and rebuffed her with the Force, sending her flying backwards. She fell, the wind rushing in her ears, until she landed on another speeder. This one was close topped, and she couldn't see the driver or their reaction to her sudden presence. Behind her on the roof of the speeder, Ben landed with a thunk, his saber back in his hand. Before she could get up, he swung downwards at her, and she brought her blade up to block it. Ben put all his weight into the block. Rey pushed back, then swung her staff so the other blade swung at Ben. He dodged most of the swing, but the blade grazed his side, leaving a shallow burn mark. He grunted in pain and anger and swung at her again, but she was standing up this time and blocked more easily.

They exchanged more blows, but Rey was rapidly running out of stamina, and she knew she wouldn't be able to hold Ben off much longer. Seeing an opening onto a walkway coming up on one side of the chasm, Rey broke their saber lock and leapt off the speeder. She landed harder than she intended to, and she rolled with a grunt, her staff flying out of her hands and deactivating. She stopped rolling and tried to get up, but before she could do much Ben landed in front of her. He raised his hand and summoned her saberstaff to him. He pointed his blade at her. "You've learned much since we last fought," he said, a small note of respect in his voice. "But now it's over. You've lost." Rey propped herself up on her elbows, glaring at him despite herself. Without another word, Ben raised his blade for one final swing.

"Wait!" Rey said, suddenly fearful. To her surprise, he stopped, but Rey kept going, not wanting to test how long he'd listen. "Take me to your master," she said. "I've been reading Jedi archives for months - some of them collapsed after I left. I'm the only one who knows what was in them. Plagueis wouldn't be pleased if you let Jedi secrets die." Ben stared at her beneath his mask. "My master has no use for Jedi secrets," he said, but he sounded uncertain. Rey pushed on. "You won't know unless you take me to him. If he has no use for me than you can kill me in front of him to prove you did it." The feeling of distaste that rolled off Ben made it clear what he thought of _that_ idea, but he seemed to consider it anyway. After a moment, he deactivated his saber and sheathed it. Rey breathed a sigh of relief as he raised his wrist to his face. "Get a transport to my location," he said into it. Then he lowered his hand so it was pointed at her face.

There was a feeling like her mind was being squeezed, and then darkness took her over and she knew no more.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry this took so long guys, really. School got in the way, along with a lack of motivation to write, but I am back to finish this story!**

**Well guys, I hate to break it to you, but this is the second to last chapter, and the last one with conflict. The battle between Jedi and Sith is decided in this chapter once and for all… though who wins you'll have to read for yourself. The next chapter will deal with the aftermath and putting things to rest. So read on to find out the fate of the galaxy….**

Finn couldn't help but feel despair as he and the rest of the Resistance fought for their lives. It had been bad enough when they'd had to deal with the Stormtroopers and the Knights of Ren. Then some of the transports had landed in the courtyard next to their own, and they'd found out what was in them: battle droids. Lots and lots of battle droids. They were terrible shots and easy to down, but it didn't matter - they weren't meant to be effective individually. Plagueis was going for sheer, overwhelming numbers, enough to devastate the entire planet. And it was working. Finn could see several buildings had been attacked and were on fire. Many of their men had been shot down already, and Finn tried not to look at their bodies as he fired at the enemies surrounding them.

"We need to get back to the transports!" Finn yelled. They were still on the bridge, Sith Order troops on one side, droids on the other, and the Knights of Ren wreaking havoc somewhere within their ranks. "Get to the fleet!" Rose looked over to him. "Why?" she said. "We're just as outnumbered there as we are here!" Her voice was filled with despair, and Finn couldn't help but feel that she had a point. Still… "As long as we're alive, we still have a chance!" He yelled. "Just keep pushing!"

So they fought on, hoping for a miracle.

/

The battle was going extremely poorly, Leia noticed. She wasn't particularly surprised; they were outnumbered by about several hundred ships. The fighting was slowly descending into the atmosphere of the planet, the black of space partially faded into the blue of the Coruscant sky. At this point, she felt resigned to the idea of defeat, and probably her death. Still, she felt a jolt of fear when one technician announced that several fighters were heading towards the _Tantive IV_. And they weren't theirs.

"Vulture droids!" The technician said. "Five of them, closing in on our position! Any fighters in the area, we need assistance!" But there weren't any fighters in the area, and any that tried to get close were blown out of the sky. "Evacuate the ship," Leia yelled, cutting through the noise of the bridge. Lieutenant Connix, standing nearby, nodded, and gave the order. Alarms blared, and people rushed to the escape pods. The situation was just as bad on the ground, but hopefully they'd live to fight another day… if there was another day. She sighed sadly, a sigh betraying decades of sadness. "General Organa, we must go!" C-3PO called from the door. She realized they were the last two in the bridge. She nodded and followed the protocol droid out the door to the bridge.

In the halls, resistance members rushed in one direction, towards the escape pods. Leia, at the rear of the crowd, moved as quickly as she could, but at her age that wasn't saying much. She noticed C-3PO was getting ahead of her and allowed herself a small smile as she realized he was faster than her. She remembered the time in Echo Base where he'd barely kept up with her and Han in the halls. Now here she was, lagging behind him. How times change. She was broken from her thoughts when the entire ship rocked violently. She was slammed against the wall by the force of the impact and gripped it to keep from falling over. The vulture droids had hit the ship. She paled, but the shields seemed to hold, as a moment later the ship stabilized. Threepio turned to look at Leia. "Mistress Leia!" he called in distress, realizing how far behind him she was. He began moving back towards her to help her up-

And the ship shook again, even more violently. A muffled explosion was heard, then another. Suddenly the hallway between the two of them collapsed. Threepio cried out in distress, but the debris thankfully missed him. Leia pushed herself off the wall to see the hallway was impassable. She paled again. Through the debris, she could see Threepio trying to get the attention of a couple of the soldiers at the back of the evacuating crowd. A couple of them stopped and headed back over to them. "Threepio," she said, stopping him, "there's no point." as she said it, a sense of calm seemed to wash over her. She knew her words were true. "But Mistress Leia, you must get off the ship!" Threepio protested. "Perhaps if you found an alternate route-" Leia shook her head sadly. "There isn't time." She knew she was right - the muffled explosion from the last round of fire was the shield generator giving out. The next volley that came would be the last. "But-" Threepio began. Leia cut him off. "Go," she said gently. "Tell Lieutenant Connix goodbye for me. And if you see Ben, tell him I love him." A sad smile appeared on her face. "And may the Force be with you."

Threepio was silent for a moment before replying. "It… it was an honor, Mistress Leia," he said, sadness in his voice. Then he turned and hurried off to the escape pods. The two soldiers that had come over to help were silent, but they gave Leia a sorrowful salute before departing as well. Leia watched him until he was out of her sight. Then she turned and headed back to the bridge. As she entered it, she looked around at the empty seats. With a small jolt of sadness, she realized this was the first time she'd ever seen them empty. She knew they'd been empty before, just recently, too, but seeing the ship like this made her feel a sense of finality. She sat down in one of the empty chairs and leaned on her cane with a sigh.

She turned to the hologram of the ship, and watched as the pods dropped away, one by one. "May the Force be with you," she said again, almost a whisper, as the last one vanished, leaving her alone on the ship. Slowly, the red arrows representing the vulture droids drew closer. Still, the sense of calm she'd felt before remained, and her sad smile reappeared. She wasn't afraid of the end, because she knew it wasn't really the end; not entirely. She closed her eyes, her expression serene. And with her last breath, she spoke one word.

"Ben…"

Then the world was on fire, and then it was nothing.

/

Ren felt like he'd been punched in the gut suddenly. He doubled over in his seat in the transport speeder, but the trooper driving either didn't notice or didn't care. He quickly straightened back up. He looked over to the backseat, where the still unconscious Rey laid. Her face looked troubled, and he wondered if she'd felt Leia's death, even in her sleep. He turned back to look forward, at the rapidly emptying sky lanes and the Imperial Palace slowly approaching in the distance.

Ren didn't understand why it had hit him so hard. Or why he'd heard her voice say his name. He didn't have any connection to his mother any more. She'd given him to the Jedi, and look where that had gotten him. No, she'd been dead to him for a while. Now she was just dead to the rest of the world, too. Good. It's what she deserved. So why did his chest hurt so much?

And why, underneath his helmet, was a tear trailing down his cheek?

/

_They were in the middle of a training session when her master suddenly stood up, his expression turning serious. Rey looked up at him in concern. "Master?" she asked. "What is it?" He looked down at her. "I sense something through the Force," he said. "It feels like…" he trailed off. For a moment, he was still. Then, suddenly, he got down on one knee and placed his hand on Rey's shoulder. "Rey," he said, "You're old enough now that I trust you. Can you handle being on your own for a couple days? I have to go somewhere, and I have to take Bee with me, this time." Rey thought about that a moment. At the age of nine, the longest she'd ever been by herself had been for a couple hours, maybe. Now her master was asking her to be by herself for _days_._

_But he'd also said it was because she was a big girl. Her master trusted her. She wouldn't betray that trust. She nodded. "Yup," she said. "I can do that." He smiled at her. "Good." He stood up and gestured to Bee. "Come on, bud," he said, and headed for the door. Before he stepped through it, he stopped and turned to look at her again. "May the Force be with you," he said with a smile. Then he was gone, his droid in tow, and Rey was alone._

_A day passed. Then two. Then five. Rey grew increasingly concerned as each day passed, but tried to stay hopeful. Her master ran into some trouble, she'd tell herself, but he'd get out of it. He always did. One week turned into two. The food supply got smaller. Rey would spend hours staring at the desert outside the door. She'd wait, hoping to see her master's speeder appear on the horizon, but it never did._

_On the last day of the third week, she broke. She ran outside, running until she reached the edge of the property, marked by a ring of moisture vaporators. She fell to her knees in the sand, tears streaming down her face. She looked up at the sky. "COME BACK!" she screamed at it. Her voice echoed throughout the desert, but no one heard her. She screamed until her throat was raw, but still no one heard her. She didn't know or care how long she sat there, but eventually the sun set, and still she sat there, now silent, tears still on her face._

_Three days later, a child wandered into Niima outpost, a staff in her hand, a bag of various metal items over her shoulder, and a stony face. She asked around until she found someone who took scrap for food. She sold everything that had been in her master's hut. She never knew what happened to him, but she never thought about it. Maybe, she thought, one day he might come back, and everything could go back to normal._

_So Rey left her master's hut, but stayed on Jakku, waiting for a man that never came._

/

Rey's eyes flew open, and she sat up with a jolt. For a moment, she was confused as to where she was. She looked around. She was in the back seat of a speeder, which was parked on the ground outside a massive structure with five spires on top. Sitting in the front passenger seat was Ben, and the sight of him brought back the memory of their duel. He was in the process of getting out. The driver was watching silently, his face hidden beneath his white helmet. Ben turned to her to see she was up. "You're awake," he observed. "Come with me." Hesitantly, Rey got out of the speeder. It wasn't like she had a choice.

The moment she was out of the speeder, it drove away, and Rey was left alone with Ben at the base of the stairs leading to the structure. "What is this place?" she asked, curious despite her sense of dread. "Once, it was the Jedi Temple," Ben replied. "Now it's a palace." He began moving up the stairs, and Rey followed, looking at the building with a new sense of wonder along with an increased sense of dread. This place had once been the home of the Jedi Order, where those who followed the Code lived and trained. Ben's grandfather had lived here until his turn to the Dark Side. Now, Plagueis was sitting somewhere in there, probably on a throne, watching the Republic die with a smile on his face. And she was going to see him.

Still, as they entered the building, her sense of wonder came back a bit. She looked around at the vast, empty halls, trying to imagine what they had been like half a century ago, when they were full of Jedi. Had Anakin Skywalker walked down this hall? Had Master Yoda, or Obi-Wan Kenobi, the two Jedi who'd trained Luke? Had her master been down this corridor? That last thought was too painful, especially with the memory she'd just experienced in her mind. A part of her admitted that she'd hoped she might find him somewhere out here, or at least find out what happened to him, but she hadn't, and she wasn't sure what to think of that. She kept following Ben and tried not to cry.

Eventually, they arrived at an elevator. From how long they'd been walking, Rey thought it must go up to the central spire. She supposed it made sense Plagueis would be up there; who wouldn't want a throne with a view? She allowed herself to feel slightly bitter, and stepped into the elevator with Ben. The doors closed, and it began moving upward. With a jolt, she realized this was almost identical to the situation she'd been in months earlier, on the _Supremacy_. Once again, she was in an elevator, a prisoner, with Ben, going to see his master on a throne. And she still didn't know what to do. Luke had said she'd know when the time came; she was pretty sure that if any time was the time, it was right now.

She turned to look at Ben, hoping maybe looking at him would somehow inspire her, when she noticed that he was holding her saberstaff in his hands. She didn't know how she hadn't noticed while they'd been walking, but then again she'd been lost in thought. As she watched, he held it up and looked at it, then slowly twirled it. "Your ingenuity in making this is admirable," he said softly. "It's not perfect, but it's adequate. It's well-balanced." He twirled it once more. _Well-balanced_. The words seem to resonate with her for a reason she couldn't quite place. She turned away from him and tried to think why.

_Well-balanced. I need to defeat Plagueis. The Light Side can't do it. There's a way to, but it's something… the Jedi wouldn't consider. It's not the Dark Side… at least… what did Luke say? Not fully? Not full Dark Side, something the Jedi wouldn't like…_

… _Balance._

It was like a million lightbulbs had gone off inside her head. Suddenly she knew what to do. It made sense. So much sense, in fact, that she felt like an idiot for not thinking of it when Luke had spoken to her on Isoltre. She turned back to Ben. "Ben," she said. "Ben, I know how to defeat Plagueis." He looked up from the staff in his hands and met her gaze beneath his mask. He said nothing, so Rey kept going. "Plagueis is a master of the Dark Side, so using the Dark won't work on him, but the Light Side alone isn't enough to beat him either." Ren kept gazing at her. "What's your point?" he said. She felt like she was about to explode as she kept talking.

"It's balance, Ben. Real balance. Both sides of the Force at once. Don't you see? The Jedi and Sith are _both_ wrong. It's never been about Light versus Dark, it's about balance versus imbalance. As long as you only use one side, the Force will never be balanced, and the galaxy will never be at peace. But if you use both sides equally… Plagueis would never think it would be possible, none of the Sith would, so he doesn't have a counter. His immortality is dependent on the imbalance in the Force. If you use balance… you can kill him."

/

Ren stared at her silently as her words sank it. It seemed impossible, ridiculous, but… at the same time, it made perfect sense. Why hadn't she said this sooner? "So do it," he said. "Use both sides. Kill Plagueis." He let his hatred for his master show in his voice. Rey shook her head. "No, Ben," she said, "I can't. It has to be you." The world seemed to fall away, and Ren felt like ice water had been thrown at his face. "I…" he said, trailing off. He wanted to say no; he wanted to say he couldn't either, how could he? But he thought of the words Vader's Force ghost had said to him on Dantooine: _The path of the Sith is not yours to take. The path of the Jedi is not yours, either_. If he used both sides, he would be on neither path. He never would have thought of it, but it made sense. But... "Why me?" he asked. "Because you're the only one strong enough," Rey said. "You're the grandson of the Chosen One. It has to be you."

She grabbed his grandfather's lightsaber, still tied to the end of her staff which he held. "You once said you wanted to finish what your grandfather started." Ren didn't ask how she knew that; the connection they'd once shared had been remarkably strong. "So finish it," she continued. "Finish what _Anakin_ started. Bring balance to the Force. It's your destiny." The words sunk in, cutting Ren to his core. This was the choice. This was the decision he needed to make. The fate of the galaxy, the fate of the Force itself, rested on his shoulders. And he didn't know what to do. He knew what he should do, but the choice seemed impossible.

He tightened his grip on the staff handle, trying to stop his hands from shaking. He looked at Rey's eyes. They were so full of light, of hope. They seemed to steady him, help him to think clearly. "I'm being torn apart," he said eventually, his voice broken. "I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it." Rey smiled at him, and the smile was so genuine that he couldn't help but feel more confident at it. "I know you do," she said softly. "You always have. You just needed help to see it." They looked at each other for a bit longer.

Then Ben Solo let go of the staff, leaving Rey holding it herself. She adjusted her grip. Hands still shaking, Ren reached up, lowered his hood, and removed his helmet. There were tears in his eyes. "Thank you," he said shakily. Rey's smile widened. "You're welcome," she said back. Together, they looked up at the ceiling of the elevator, where, past it, and rapidly growing closer, was Plagueis, and the final battle.

/

Poe soared through the battle, now fully in the atmosphere of Coruscant. He had lost hope the moment the _Tantive IV_ was gone. He'd heard over the comms; Leia hadn't gotten off. She was gone. Their leader was gone, and with it any last hope they'd had of some miracle saving them. Poe looked around in despair as his squadmates, his friends, were shot down, their lives gone in flashes of fire, their screams cut off as they were engulfed and crashed into skyscrapers far below.

"I'm… I'm sorry, everyone," Poe said over the comms, despair filling his voice. He looked down. BB-8 whistled sadly. "I'm sorry. It's over. There's just… there's just too many of them." For a while, he thought that was it. He would sit like this until someone got a lucky shot on him, and he too plummeted to the ground below in a ball of flame. Then a voice cut through his stupor, shocking him to his core. "But there are more of us, Poe," it said. "There are more of us."

Poe looked up again, his eyes widening in shock. He steered his X-wing around a capital ship and froze. In the sky above them, appearing out of hyperspace, were more ships than Poe had ever seen in his life. They filled the entire sky, and more kept coming. Poe looked around the massive assembly of ships until he spotted one whose shape was intimately familiar to him. Over the comm, Poe heard Chewie roar triumphantly in the cockpit of the Falcon, followed by the voice from before laughing. Poe knew that voice. "General Calrissian?!" Poe exclaimed in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Commander Dameron," Lando Calrissian replied, "I'm here to kick some Sith ass. So are you and your squad gonna help out, or do me and my friends get to do all the work?" Poe sat back in his seat, still absolutely shocked. Then his face broke into the widest smile he'd ever had. "We're all with you, General! Now let's show these Sith why they messed with the wrong people!" He replied, feeling absolutely euphoric. Over the comm, he heard the disbelieving cheers of his squadmates. All the ships were here now - there were almost sixty thousand of them. Freighters, starfighters, blockade runners - all piloted by people. Citizens from across the galaxy who'd held on hope for the Republic, and had answered the call to help when it had come. The Sith had thought they'd extinguished hope from the Galaxy, but here was the proof, assembled before them, that it wasn't. Far from it, actually. Hope was more alive than ever before, and now it was time to use it.

Together with the assembled ships and his squad, he turned around to face the now far outnumbered Sith fleet, and with a cry of defiance, he flew towards them, back into the fight.

/

Everyone on both sides of the battle stopped fighting to watch in shock as sixty thousand ships appeared and attacked the Sith fleet. The droids probably would have kept fighting, but most of them were destroyed. The battlefield fell into complete silence as they watched the suddenly changed battle above. Finn looked down and around at the others on the battlefield. As he looked at the shocked Stormtroopers, an idea formed in his mind. Pushing through the crowd of Resistance soldiers, he stepped in front of them, standing at the center of the bridge, right in front of the wall of troopers. "HEY!" he yelled, and the Stormtroopers all turned to look at him.

For a moment, there was more silence, as Finn prepared himself for what he was about to do. Then he started speaking. "You all know me," he said. "Probably. I think. FN-2187. Finn. The traitor. You know why I left the First Order?" He looked around at them. "Because I had a choice. I could follow orders… I could kill innocent people… or I could leave, and help them instead. I made my choice. And now you guys need to make yours." He pointed up. "You see that? We're winning up there. And down here? You're being replaced." He gestured to the broken droids on the ground, and a few Stormtroopers glanced nervously at the Sith troopers in their ranks, who looked uncertain. "The Sith Order doesn't care about you. They kidnapped you from your families and forced you to be soldiers. They brainwashed you. They made you think you didn't have a choice. But you do." He felt confident now, and he could feel the eyes of the Resistance soldiers behind him on his back. "If you turn around… if you help us win this… you can still do the right thing. You can still help people." He let that sink in a moment. "Or… you can keep fighting for the Sith, and end up in prison for life. Your choice."

There was another bout of silence following the end of his speech, only broken by the distant explosions overhead. Then, from behind the Stormtroopers, came the sound of metal footsteps. A large contingent of droids was approaching. Slowly, the Stomtroopers turned to look at the droids, then back at Finn. He braced himself as they stared at him. Then, as one, they turned to look at the droids again, raised their blasters, and fired.

The reaction was instantaneous. The droids began firing back. The Sith Troopers began attacking their white-armored former comrades but were quickly overwhelmed and crushed by their numbers. The Resistance soldiers surged forward to help the Stormtroopers with renewed determination. Somewhere behind them, the Mandalorians resumed dueling with the Knights of Ren. Finn saw Rose look over at him and give him a big smile, and he smiled back. Then he ran forward with the rest of them, and together, they fought the droids, hope slowly returning to them.

/

Plagueis had his eyes closed, his mouth set in a frown. The battle was turning against him, and he was most displeased. Perhaps the galaxy had not understood they were under his rule now. No matter; he always had another plan. His train of thought was interrupted, however, when the door to the throne room opened.

/

"PLAGUEIS!" Ben yelled as the throne room door closed behind him. Plagueis opened his eyes and observed silently as he and Rey walked to the center of the room and stopped. Ben held up his mask, then threw it to the floor at the foot of the throne. Plagueis looked at it for a moment before shifting his glare to Ben. "So," he said after a moment, his voice calm but annoyed. "Once again, an apprentice betrays me." Ben returned his former master's glare. Plagueis sighed. "Disappointing," he said, "but not surprising. I suppose you both plan to fight me?"

"The Sith will never rule the galaxy again," Rey said behind him. She stepped forward and ignited her saberstaff. Still glaring at Plagueis, Ben drew and ignited his own saber. Plagueis laughed, and stood up. "Do you really believe you can stop me?" he jeered, slowly walking down the steps of the throne. "Two children? You are more foolish than I ever thought." Ben's glare intensified. "You're the fool," Ben said. "We know how to kill you." He got into a ready position. "You'll never leave this room." Plaguies' smile turned into a frown. "So," he said, "the grandson of the Chosen One seeks to fulfill the prophecy for himself." Slowly, Plagueis reached into his robe and pulled out his own saber. "Do you really believe you are powerful enough to bring balance to the Force?" Ben didn't respond. Plaguies laughed again. "Then come, boy," he said, igniting his saber and holding it in front of him. "Come fulfill your destiny."

With a roar of rage, Ben lunged at Plagueis, Rey behind him. Behind him, he could feel the Praetorian Guards watching, but clearly they didn't dare interfere with their master's duel as it began. Ben swiped at Plagueis, but the Sith blocked it, then blocked Rey's swipe as well. He swiped at them himself, and they both dodged backwards. They exchanged more blows, each swiping at Plagueis from different angles, but he somehow managed to block three blades with his one. Meeting Ben in a saber lock, he unleashed a torrent of Force lightning at Rey, who barely managed to deflect it, the energy instead hitting and killing one the Praetorian Guards. Plagueis stopped, broke his lock with Ben, and lunged at Rey, but she dodged, then swiped at his back. He blocked effortlessly, then countered, but Ben cut off his strike with a parry.

As they fought, Plagueis laughed again, the noise echoing off the walls of the chamber as the duel for the fate of the galaxy intensified.

/

Armitage Hux was furious. He stood on the bridge of the _Finalizer_, watching as his forces were impossibly being defeated. This was unbelievable. He was the commander of the most powerful fleet in the galaxy. How was this hodge podge collection of civilian ships beating them? "All fighters engage the enemy!" Hux barked. "They are, general," a technician replied. He growled. Then suddenly, the bridge shook as the ship was hit with proton torpedoes. "Where's our fighter defense?" He roared. "They're all gone, sir!" the same technician said. "They've all been shot down. We're calling more over to- INCOMING!" Hux turned to see a fighter fire proton torpedoes right at the _Finalizer_'s bridge. His eyes widened in terror. He turned and ran for the door, but it was too late.

The torpedoes hit the bridge, and the entire room was destroyed, along with everyone inside.

/

Poe whooped at the sight of the _Finalizer_'s bridge going up in flames, leaving the ship dead in the water, slowly descending to the city below. _That's payback for Tuanul_, he thought fiercely. Then his attention was caught by other matters as a TIE Fighter began chasing after him. Trying to lose it, Poe angled his fighter down towards the city below. He flew between and around the tops of skyscrapers, but the fighter followed. "Hey, I need some help over here!" he yelled into the comm as he soared out of a chasm between two buildings.

Suddenly, the fighter chasing him exploded, the debris falling into the yawning chasm below them. An old T65B X-wing flew by him. "Thanks for the assist!" Poe called to the pilot over the comms. "Any time, Commander," the voice of Wedge Antilles replied. Poe did a double take, but before he could say anything - or ask for an autograph - a vulture droid swooped by, chasing an A-wing, and Poe took after it, shooting it down in seconds. As he looked around for another target, a crackly voice came over his comm. "Poe! That- _fzzt_ \- you?"

"Finn?" Poe called. "Yeah, I'm here. Where are you?" Finn's voice came back, less staticy this time. "You just swooped by underneath us." Poe looked back at the chasm he'd flown through to see a massive firefight happening on a bridge over it. There was a lot of white, but it looked like… "Are the Stormtroopers fighting _with_ you?" he asked in disbelief. "Yeah," Finn said. "Listen, we're still outnumbered down here. The old ships brought a lot of droids with them, and if we don't do something soon we're not gonna last long down here." Poe thought for a moment. "They're B1s, right? Don't those normally have a control ship keeping them online?" There was silence save for blaster fire on the other end for a moment. "Maybe?" Finn said eventually. "Galactic history wasn't exactly a priority in Stormtrooper training."

"Don't worry, buddy, I got a plan!" Poe called back. "Just hang on!" He switched comm channels. "General Calrissian, do you read?" Lando's voice replied. "I sure do," he said. "What do you need?" Poe paused a moment to dodge some laser fire before replying. "Our ground forces need an assist," he called back. "They're outnumbered ten to one by droids. But I seem to remember that these guys need a control ship. Think you can have R2 find the signal? He fought in the Clone Wars, he should know what to look for." There was a pause for a moment before Lando replied. "He's already on it," he said, amusement in his voice. "He says it's coming from the Super Star Destroyer."

Poe looked around, spotting the ship in question quickly due to its size. He flipped his comm to all channels. "Alright everyone, listen up!" he said. "We gotta take out that Super Star Destroyer or our ground forces aren't gonna make it! So everyone target it!" He flew towards the ship, and around him he could see countless other fighters do the same. Together they flew towards the ship. Poe flew above it, looking down. He wasn't familiar with the ship class outside of stories. "Anyone know any weak spots?" he called. "Target the main engine!" a female voice called. "Hit it with enough firepower and it'll send the whole ship up in flames!" A VCX-100 freighter swooped by, heading for the engine in question, and Poe figured the speaker was piloting it. He nodded, though the person speaking couldn't see it. "Everyone hear that? Hit that engine!" He swooped towards it, a thousand fighters in tow.

/

Boba Fett had been in a lot of fights, but this one might have been one of the biggest. Not that it really mattered how big it was; the fact was he was here, and he'd fight until either he was dead, or the other side was. As time dragged on, the latter was looking more and more likely.

He dodged a strike from a Sith Trooper's baton, firing at their back with his EE-3. They fell with a thud, and he turned, scanning for more targets. His attention was drawn to a Mandalorian fighting one of those Knights of Ren. He rushed forward to help, but before he could the Knight took advantage of an opening and bisected the warrior. Fett stopped and watched as the body fell to the ground. The Knight turned to him. Slowly, Fett put away his blaster and drew the Darksaber. He ignited it, holding it in front of him. The Knight simply stared at him beneath his mask. Then, from the crowd, another Knight appeared next to the first. Behind him, Fett could hear three more. He knew immediately that they were the last ones. The others were likely killed by his fellow Mandalorians, and he allowed himself to feel a small bit of pride at that. He looked around at the Knights, standing in a circle with him in the middle.

"You're going to regret this," he told them. "I'm not called the best for nothing." There was no response. Fett allowed himself a small sigh. Then he lunged at them, swiping at one and meeting the steel of their vibroblade. Immediately he broke away to block a swipe from a second, dodged a third, and fired a laser blast from his gauntlet at a fourth. Each tried swiping at him, and each one was blocked. He had to admit they were good; they were coordinating with each other so that each one helped close gaps in another's defense, and each one swiped at a point they thought was vulnerable. But Fett was better. He might have had only one blade to their five, but he had decades more experience than they did.

And he was a Mandalorian.

And as the fight unfolded, the Knights of Ren began to understand the full meaning behind that status.

One of the Knights, growing careless, swung their axe at his head, and Boba ducked under it, swiping his saber at their torso. They let out a scream that was cut short as they were bisected by the Darksaber, in the same way they themselves had killed his fellow warrior. Fett turned to look at the other four, who seemed to have frozen in shock at the death of their comrade. As their body hit the ground, however, the others snapped out of it, immediately lunging at Fett again. He dodged one of them, using a short burst from his jetpack to get above and behind them and then kick downward, connecting with their back and sending them sprawling to the ground.

As Fett landed, he was immediately set upon by another Knight, who swung their vibroaxe at his jetpack, trying to remove his aerial advantage from the fight. They were fast, and the axe connected with the power core, causing a shower of sparks to fly out of it. Decades ago, this would have been followed by the pack malfunctioning and causing him to fly into the air with no control, as Boba had learned the hard way. Since then, however, he'd made some modifications. Instead of short circuiting the jetpack controls and causing uncontrolled ignition, the pack sensed the impact and channeled all its remaining power into the cause of the damage. The Knight of Ren screamed in pain as a massive amount of electricity surged through his body before dropping to the ground, his entire nervous system fried. Fett shrugged off the now useless jetpack and tossed it at another Knight, who stumbled backwards from the impact. Before they could react, Fett fired at one of the pack's fuel tanks.

The Knight was engulfed in an explosion, and Fett turned to the Knight he'd kicked before, who was on their feet again and in a combat ready stance. Fett leapt at them, swinging three times in rapid succession before getting caught in a blade lock. As he pushed into the lock, he drew a short metal pole from his back, which subsequently extended into a metal baton. He swung it at the Knight's face, causing them to yell in pain and stumble back, breaking the lock. Fett lunged while they were off balance, impaling them in the chest. He removed the blade from the Knight and swung around as they collapsed to see the last remaining Knight of Ren leaping at him. Fett blocked, but the Knight simply swung again, then again, the ferocity of his attacks catching Boba off guard. Finally, Fett dodged backwards at the next strike, putting distance between him and the Knight, and the Knight's strike hit empty air, causing him to overbalance. He regained his balance just in time for Boba to hit him directly in the chest with a laser blast from his gauntlet. The Knight flew backwards off the bridge, screaming as they fell into the chasm below.

Fett stood there quietly a moment, gazing at the dead Knights of Ren, before collapsing the baton and deactivating the Darksaber, putting both away. As he pulled out his EE-3 again, two of his Mandalorians ran up to him. One of them, seeing he had lost his jetpack, offered him her own, and he accepted it with a nod. Then, together with his warriors, he rushed back into the battle.

/

Ben was beginning to grow desperate as the battle wore on. No matter how hard they pressed, no matter how ferocious their attacks, Plagueis seemed to block every strike with little effort. As they fought, Ben tried to find balance, but it was hard not to give in fully to his rage, especially when the source of his suffering was right in front of him. Besides, he wasn't even sure what he was looking for, or if he even could find balance.

Ben swung at Plagueis' face, putting as much force as he could into the strike. Plagueis, laughing still, blocked him once again, then unleashed a wave of Force energy, sending both Ben and Rey skidding several feet away from him. Plagueis spread his arms wide in a theatrical gesture, his grin widening. "Do you see now, boy?" he called, putting emphasis on the word "boy". "Do you see that it is pointless to resist? You should not have betrayed me."

Plagueis' words sent another spike of anger through Ben's chest. "I never should have _joined_ you," he spat back, glaring at Plagueis. "Ever since I did I've been nothing but your _pawn_." At this, Plagueis only laughed harder. "My dear boy, you were my pawn long before you ever became my apprentice." Ben growled at those words. "No," he replied, his anger only growing. "I listened to your poisonous words like a fool, but I was never yours. My decisions were my own. I never would have come to you if the Jedi hadn't betrayed me." Plagueis' grin would have been terrifying if Ben wasn't so angry. "Oh, you poor, foolish child. Have you never realized?" The heat of anger was diluted by fear as Plagueis continued. "Did you never wonder why your uncle, who believed in compassion and redemption above all else, attempted to kill you at the first sign of darkness within you?" Plagueis laughed once more, and when he spoke again his words ground Ben's thoughts to a halt. "It was _me_, boy," Plagueis said, his voice filled with wicked glee. "_I_ influenced Skywalker's mind from across the galaxy. I placed the thought to kill you in his head. He was more powerful than I gave him credit for, and the thought was only in his head for a moment before he resisted me - but it was enough."

Ben was completely numb. Nothing existed anymore except for him and Plagueis. But Plagueis wasn't done. "When you fled to me, I saw the doubt in you," he continued, his glee rising. "When you awoke that night, it was I who spoke to you, as a Force projection in your grandfather's image. And the next day, you pledged yourself to my teachings." Plagueis spread his arms wide. "So you see, boy?" he finished. "You have always been my pawn, Ben Solo. You were mine from the very beginning." Dimly, Ben registered that this was the first time Plagueis had ever addressed him by name, but he was barely paying attention anymore. The one thing he'd known for certain in his life - that the Jedi had betrayed him, that his _family_ had betrayed him - was a lie. He had never been betrayed by anyone. Luke had been just as much a victim as he was. It was Plagueis who was responsible. It was _always_ Plagueis.

Ben's rage returned, and he couldn't tell if his vision had gone red or if it was just the light of explosions from the sky outside shining down on them. With a primal cry of rage, he lunged at Plagueis, blade extended, seeking to cut down the being that had manipulated him, that had used him, that had ruined him. He barely heard Rey yell out "BEN!" as he swung his blade, slicing cleany through Plagueis' midsection -

\- And immediately realized the severity of his mistake as Plagueis' laughter did not pause. He'd played right into his former master's hands: in his rage, he'd forgotten all about balance and had lunged out of sheer anger… and now he was completely open to any strike Plagueis would make. He tried to bring his blade up into a defensive position, but the Sith Lord was already swinging his own blade, aiming to stab him through the chest.

Ben heard Rey yell out, "NO!" seconds before he felt a tug on his body and went sailing backwards into a pillar a few feet away. He crashed to the ground in a heap, his lightsaber deactivating as it landed next to him. He heard the clash of blades and looked up to see Rey had taken his place in front of Plagueis. She swung one blade at Plagueis, then another, but he blocked both. Then, suddenly, as she swung again. He swung too, not at her blades, but at the center of the staff. With a loud _hiss_ and a crack, Rey's staff was sliced in two. Rey stumbled back, caught off guard by the strike - and Ben watched, helpless, as Plagueis took the opportunity to strike. He stumbled to his feet, but it was too late - with a loud noise of heated plasma, Plagueis' blade impaled Rey directly through her chest. She gave a loud gasp of pain, then went flying back as Plagueis pushed her off his blade with the Force. And Plagueis was still laughing that damned laugh of his, the laugh of someone powerful who knew he had already won. "NO!" Ben screamed, echoing Rey's own cry seconds earlier. He reignited his blade and was right in front of Plagueis in seconds. He struck once, then twice, but both blows were blocked easily. He swung a third time, and Plagueis blocked again, holding him in a saber lock.

Ben glared at Plagueis. He would kill this man, he would make him _suffer_. His thoughts were bright with rage, but they were cut off as Plagueis spoke again. "If you had remained my apprentice, you might have ruled by my side," he growled, his glee mixed with his own anger now. "But now, for your betrayal, you will _die_!" Ben's anger flared again. "I'll kill you!" he growled back. Plagueis laughed once more. "You?" he said, his disbelief and mockery evident in his tone. "Not even the most skilled Sith or Jedi could kill me! And you, _boy_, are _neither_!"

Plagueis' words seemed to cut through Ben's anger, and suddenly everything seemed to fall away. Voices, memories, came to him, unbidden but not unwanted.

_You cannot deny the truth that is your family._

_The path of the Sith is not yours to take. The path of the Jedi is not yours either._

_It's balance, Ben, Real balance. Both sides of the Force at once. Don't you see?_

_The Force is strong in you, Ben Solo. Now use it. _All _of it._

That last voice was one he'd never heard before, but yet it still sounded familiar to him. He closed his eyes, focusing.

_I need to find balance._

_Balance…_

Something seemed to awaken within Ben as he focused, a well of energy he didn't know he had. Suddenly, his anger became mixed with something else. It was still there but in between were pieces of calm, a swirl of rage and determination that cleared his mind and ran throughout his body. It was unlike anything else he'd ever felt from the Force.

_This_ was balance. _This_ was the Force as it was meant to be used.

And suddenly Ben knew what he had to do.

He opened his eyes again, his expression neutral but his eyes fiery with anger, as the world came back into existence. Plagueis was still sneering at him, but Ben's anger did not increase or change. "You're right," Ben said loudly, cutting off Plagueis' latest bout of laughter. "I'm not a Jedi _or_ a Sith." He reached out into the room around him and felt what he was looking for. He met Plagueis' gaze, and for a moment, he saw something he'd never seen before: a look of uncertainty flashed across his former master's face. Ben allowed himself a feeling of satisfaction as he spoke once more.

"I'm the Chosen One."

With a snapping of cloth as it separated from the staff it was tied to, the Skywalker lightsaber flew into Ben's empty hand, and in one swift motion, he ignited it and thrust it directly into Plagueis' abdomen. Plagueis gasped in surprise and pain as the lightsaber speared him through, and his grip on his own saber loosened as he looked down. Ben took advantage of this and separated his own saber from the saber lock, thrusting it into Plagueis' abdomen as well. Cracks of light from the two sabers, white and blinding, seemed to spread across Plagueis' body. Plagueis looked back up at Ben, his mouth wide in shock and pain, his eyes full of surprise and disbelief.

And with a cry of rage and triumph, Ben pulled the sabers away from each other in a reverse scissor motion. With the noise of an explosion and a blinding flash of light, a shockwave of pure Force energy rippled violently across the room, as Darth Plagueis, the last Lord of the Sith in the galaxy, exploded into a million pieces. As the shockwave hit the Praetorian guards still standing around the room, they too disintegrated. Ben stood there for a moment as the shockwave faded, saber in each hand and arms outstretched, before he collapsed to his knees, deactivating both sabers and breathing heavily.

Suddenly, he heard a pained gasp from behind him and remembered Rey. With a jolt, he got back to his feet and ran over to her prone form, clipping the sabers to his belt as he went. He stopped and kneeled down by her side, putting one arm underneath her shoulders. Rey looked up at him, her eyes full of joy and triumph. "Rey," Ben said, his voice shaky as he met her eyes. "I did it. I beat him." Rey smiled weakly up at him. "I knew you would," she replied hoarsely. She gave a shaky laugh, and Ben gave her a small smile, but it quickly faded as her laugh turned into a pained cough. "Rey," he said again, "We need to go. We can-" Rey cut him off with a shake of her head. "No, Ben," she breathed. "It's too late for me." Ben shook his head as well, trying to keep tears out of his eyes. "Please," he said. "You're all I have left." He cradled the sister he never had as she met his gaze, her expression calm and unafraid. "This is how it has to be, Ben," she told him, her voice almost a whisper. "The last Sith is dead, and now… now the last Jedi needs to die too. It's the only way to bring balance." Ben wasn't bothering to keep his tears in now. "Please…" he said again, his voice breaking.

Rey looked up into Ben's eyes one last time. Her smile never wavered. "You won't be alone," she whispered to him, remembering what her master had told her long ago. "You'll always have the Force. And I'll always be with you through it."

And then Rey's eyes glazed over, and she went limp in Ben's arms.

And Ben, now alone, let his tears flow freely, as he wept the loss of the woman who'd saved him.

/

Poe carefully weaved his way around another volley of blaster fire directed his way as he fired his own volley at another enemy fighter, blowing it out of the air. He gave a cry of triumph, and circled back around to see the rest of the battlefield. The First Order had caught on to what they were trying to do rather quickly, and now all their remaining fighters were engaged with Poe's forces, keeping them away from the Super Star Destroyer's main engine as best they could. They far outnumbered the TIEs, but they also had the SSD's turrets to deal with, so progress was slow. Now, however, Poe saw that the number of TIEs had thinned significantly, and he decided it was now or never. "Everyone," he called over the comms, "I'm making a run on the engine. Cover me if you can. We'll need a lot of firepower to damage it, so get ready!" As Poe turned his fighter towards the engine, he heard a reply. "We got your back, Commander," Lando called over the comms. Behind him, the Falcon flew into formation with his fighter, along with a T65b X-Wing - Wedge Antilles. Poe grinned from ear to ear and sped forward. Behind the three of them, dozens of other fighters followed.

It seemed like every TIE fighter still in the air turned right towards them and began firing, but between the thousands of fighters providing him cover and his own dodging, Poe was untouchable. In seconds, he was within range of the massive main engine, and with his grin still in place he fired his torpedoes. Behind him, the Falcon and Wedge did the same, and a moment later dozens of other missiles launched from other fighters nearby. About two or three hundred missiles slammed directly into the engine, and with a massive explosion, the engine shut off. This was followed by the noise of a hundred smaller explosions as the fuel line from the engine blew all the way to the reactor core. Either the destroyer had been designed without accounting for such a large amount of firepower to be directed into one spot, or the scrappers hadn't repaired it very well, but either way the result was the same - slowly, the entire ship went up in flames as explosions rocked it. With a massive groaning noise, the Super Star Destroyer's nose tipped downward and it began to fall to earth.

Poe cheered along with thousands of others over the comms as the Destroyer made landfall with a massive groan of metal and an even bigger rumble that shook the earth, causing several nearby buildings to collapse. Thankfully, they were all empty from the evacuation. "Artoo, is the signal gone?" Poe called over the comms when the cheering had died down a bit. There was an affirmative beep over the comm from the Falcon, which was followed by more cheering. "Nice work, everyone," Poe called, "our ground forces are safe. Now let's deal with the rest of these ships!"

And as one, the fleet of ships turned towards the remaining First Order forces, and sped toward them, blasters ready.

/

Back on the ground, the cheering was echoed by stormtroopers, Mandalorians and Resistance soldiers alike as they recovered from the massive earthquake and watched as all the droids who hadn't been destroyed collapsed, their control ship dead. Finn stood, blaster in hand and a smile on his face, as he watched the soldiers celebrate. He saw Rose Tico break from the crowd and run over to him, wrapping him in a hug. He returned his blaster to its holster and hugged her back. They broke apart after a moment, smiling at each other. "We did it," she said. Finn nodded. "We did it," he echoed back. Behind him he heard a jingling of spurs, and turned to see Boba Fett standing a few feet away, hands clasped in front of him. "Thank you for your help," he said gratefully. "We wouldn't have won without you and your warriors." Fett nodded. "Just repaying a debt," he replied. "Besides, the Sith never paid well anyway." With that, he turned back to his warriors and helped them as they set about gathering the fallen soldiers. As he watched them, he noticed the body of one of the Knights of Ren, and suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"Rey," he said, suddenly panicked, turning to Rose. "We need to find her." Rose's eyes went wide as she too remembered. "Where could she be?" she asked. Before Finn could respond, the whine of a familiar engine was heard overhead, and the Millenium Falcon soared down to be level with the bridge. As they watched, the boarding ramp lowered onto the bridge, and Lando Calrissian appeared on it. "Get on, you two," he called to Finn and Rose. "R2-D2 says he's picking up Rey's commlink over at the old Jedi Temple. That's where Plagueis' shuttle was last seen." Finn and Rose shared a look of concern before climbing on to the boarding ramp. Once they were up, the ramp closed, and then the Falcon rose into the air and turned, heading towards the Jedi Temple.

/

Ben had stopped crying but hadn't yet moved when the shockwave hit the Temple. He looked up, startled, as the tower shook around him. The shockwave faded after a moment, but Ben began to hear rumbling again, and with a sinking feeling he realized the shockwave had damaged the tower, if not the entire Temple; it was collapsing. He looked down at the body of Rey in his hands. He wouldn't leave her here. With a small grunt of effort, he stood up, cradling her in his arms, and walked towards the elevator. At the doors leading out of the throne room, he turned back one last time to see his helmet sitting on the floor by the food of the throne. He stared at it for a few moments. "Kylo Ren dies with you," he finally declared, and without another word he turned and left the throne room.

/

Ben saw the Falcon land at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Temple as he began to descend them. Behind him, the rumbling noise had only gotten louder, and he turned for a moment to see one of the corner towers collapse, falling into the city below with a crash. He turned and kept walking, wanting to put as much distance between him and the Temple as he could before it collapsed. As he got further down the stairs, he saw people that he assumed had been on the Falcon running up towards him. He recognized Lando and Chewbacca, but not the other two. They all froze as he got close, and he stopped on a small landing a few steps above them. Without a word, he set Rey's body down at his feet.

That seemed to break whatever spell had frozen them, because they started moving again, the man he didn't recognize in the lead. "Rey!" he yelled, running over and collapsing next to her body, cradling it like Ben had just a few moments earlier. He looked like he was trying not to cry, and failing. The girl he didn't know stood next to him, unsure of what to do. Chewbacca let out a sorrowful wail on the other side of the man. To the side of them all, Lando looked down at Rey's body with a look of sorrow, before turning his gaze to Ben. He met the gaze evenly, and he saw Lando's eyes were full of understanding. "It's good to see you again, Ben," he said softly after a moment, and the fact that Lando, the closest thing to family he had left, greeted him like he'd never left, and they just hadn't seen each other in a few months, gave Ben so much appreciation for the man that he almost started crying again.

But he didn't, and instead turned as he heard a massive groaning noise. Lando turned too, and together they watched silently as the rest of the towers on top of the Jedi Temple collapsed, followed by the main body of the Temple itself, with a resounding crash. Finally, after a few moments, the rubble settled with a sense of finality. The Jedi Temple, which had stood for thousands of years, was gone. And with it, the Jedi and Sith Orders were no more.

For the first time in a long time, balance had returned to the Force.

**A/N: Who won in the ages-long war of Jedi vs. Sith? Balance. Next chapter is the last, but I think you'll like how things end….**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next few weeks blurred together for Ben. He'd wanted to leave Coruscant as soon as possible, to get away from the Republic, clear his head, and find somewhere to give Rey a funeral. But he, along with everyone who had participated in the Siege of Coruscant, were confined on the planet by the New Republic, much to Ben's annoyance. He'd never really liked politics or the New Republic, even before he'd gone to Plagueis. And while he was no longer hell bent on eradicating them, he'd probably never fully like the New Republic. And being stuck here while they held Senate meeting after Senate meeting to discuss millions of seemingly pointless subjects certainly didn't help his approval of them. Most of what they were discussing was what to do now, and how to avoid making the same mistake they'd made with the First Order again. They also had to deal with repairing the damage both on Coruscant and across the galaxy.

But the main things that concerned Ben were the trials.

After the Senate had gotten most of the political discussions out of the way, they'd turned to the next most important matter: the thousands of stormtroopers that had helped the Resistance win against their former masters, and their one remaining leader: him. There was no real way to try the stormtroopers, especially all at once; so the Senate had to discuss among themselves what to do, with input from Finn, the man who had cried over Rey's body (which Ben now remembered was the ex-stormtrooper he'd almost killed on Starkiller Base). In the end, the consensus reached with the stormtroopers was to pardon them; considering they were essentially brainwashed from birth, it was argued, they should not be held accountable for the crimes they were told to commit, as they had very little choice in the matter. After that, they discussed what to do with them, and decided to add them to the Republic's own army, considering they were probably unfit for civilian life, and the Republic didn't have the resources to rehabilitate them. The troopers themselves were understandably uncertain, but assurances that the Republic army was far less rigid and punishing to their soldiers helped to ease them.

Then it was Ben's turn. His trial was more of an actual trial - he was brought to a large courthouse near the Senate Building and set before a group of judges to be questioned and sentenced. He had agreed to come weaponless to the trial, leaving his lightsabers with Chewbacca, who was living in the temporarily grounded Millenium Falcon. The judges had also attempted to place Ben in handcuffs to restrict his use of the Force when he arrived at the trial, but thanks to Lando, who used both his skills at smooth talking and his status as a war hero to negotiate with them, he was allowed to keep his hands free, with the promise that he would be shot to death by the courthouse guards if he tried anything. Ben managed to keep himself from pointing out the guards wouldn't have time to fire if he didn't want them to; he doubted that would help his situation. It also didn't help that he was still wearing his Sith robes - he had removed his cloak and gloves, but as he didn't really have any other clothes he was still wearing the black tunic and pants.

The trial felt more like an interrogation than a court proceeding; most of it was taken up by him, and the few people who had chosen to defend him, being asked questions by the judges. He only had two defenders: Lando and, surprisingly, Finn, who said he was doing it so that Rey's death wouldn't be meaningless. He'd told them both, along with Chewbacca and the girl, what had happened in the Jedi Temple, and thankfully they'd all believed him. Whether the New Republic would, however, remained to be seen.

The court was like a smaller version of the Senate meeting chamber, with one central podium for the judges and floating platforms for the defendants, jury and the rest. There were no prosecutors here; the judges would essentially be performing that role as well. The first thing he was asked, of course, was what had happened in the Temple. He told them the same thing he'd told Lando and Finn: he had brought Rey there at her suggestion to meet with Plagueis, and before they arrived at the throne room Rey convinced him to rebel against Plagueis. He told them everything he could, hoping the details would help convince them it wasn't a lie, but he could tell he lost them when he started talking about balance; while most people knew about the Force in some capacity or the other, very few really understood it or how it really worked. They didn't understand balance or the will of the Force; all they knew was that a war criminal was standing before them trying to convince them he'd helped defeat his master at the last minute, and therefore shouldn't be punished for his crimes.

The trial, of course, didn't go particularly well, but at the last minute, just as it seemed Ben was about to be sentenced to death for his crimes, he was saved by an unlikely pair: C-3PO and R2-D2. They burst into the courtroom as the jury discussed the case among themselves. C-3PO apologized profusely for interrupting, as he usually did, and then explained, to the shock of everyone, why they came; R2 had discovered a recording on Rey's commlink, showing Ben killing Plagueis. Apparently, when Rey had been pushed back after plagueis stabbed her, the commlink had hit the wall and started recording, and Artoo had managed to extract the recording. The astromech proceeded to project it in front of the judges, and Ben watched himself kill the last Sith Lord all over again, this time from an outside perspective. In the end, the court reached their decision: Ben was reluctantly granted a pardon for his crimes. Ben was decidedly surprised, and he reflected on the fact that, once again, Rey had saved him. The irony did not escape him.

As he left the court, in a decidedly better mood than when he had arrived, and headed towards the taxi that would take him back to the apartment he'd been given for his stay on Coruscant, he heard C-3PO running up behind him. "Master Ben!" he called out. Ben stopped and turned to watch the protocol droid approach, gesturing to Lando and Finn to keep walking. C-3PO stopped a couple feet away from him, R2 at his side, and it occurred to Ben that he hadn't really seen or spoken to them in many years, not since before he destroyed the new Jedi Order. Clearly Threepio was thinking of that, too, because they both stood there awkwardly for a few moments, not really sure what to say to each other. Finally, Threepio broke the silence. "Mistress Leia… your mother wanted you to know that… she loved you very much." Ben stood there, silent, as he let the words sink in. Eventually, he responded with the only words he could think of.

"I know."

/

Ben hadn't planned to ever come back to Jakku, but it was the only place he could think of where it would make sense to put Rey to rest. So a little over a week after Ben's trial, here he stood, gazing at a sandstone hut he'd never seen before. But he knew from what he'd seen in Rey's mind, back when they shared a bond, that it was the hut she'd lived in with her Jedi master as a child, before she was left behind. It felt a bit strange to be there, for a reason he couldn't quite place, but it seemed like a fitting place to put Rey to rest. He hadn't come alone; Lando, Finn, Chewbacca, the girl who came to the Temple, named Rose, the Resistance pilot, Poe, BB-8, R2-D2, C-3PO, and, strangely enough, Boba Fett, were all here with him, their various ships sitting on the nearby sand in a sort of semicircle. "I've fought by - and against - many a Jedi," Fett explained. "The least I can do is be there to witness the end of their Order."

They weren't going to bury her; it was Jedi tradition to burn their fallen. And while Ben himself was no longer a Jedi, he wanted to honor her, and the entire Jedi Order, by giving her a Jedi funeral. The last Jedi funeral that would ever be performed. Obviously, there was no wood on Jakku they could use to make the funeral pyre; they'd had to bring their own. They began to set it up, and by the time it was ready the sun was beginning to set. Then it was time to bring Rey's body over. Chewbacca fetched her from the Falcon, her body wrapped in a white linen sheet. Carefully, he carried her over, and placed her gently on top of the wood pile. He stepped back with a mournful whine as Ben walked up to the pile. Hesitantly, he reached out a hand, and slowly pulled the sheet back to reveal Rey's face. She looked peaceful, her eyes closed and an expression sort of like contentment on her face. He almost expected to see her chest moving up and down in the gentle rhythm of breathing, showing she was merely sleeping.

Ben ignored the feeling of a tear rolling down his cheek, and almost painfully tore his gaze away from Rey's face. He turned to look at everyone else; they were all standing a few feet away, hands clasped in front of them respectfully and various levels of sorrow etched into their features (the droids, though they had no real faces, somehow managed to convey the same feelings, and Fett, though he wasn't sad, was respectfully silent beneath his helmet). Wordlessly, he turned back to the pyre and pulled a single log from it. He ignited the Skywalker lightsaber and set it ablaze, then pressed it against the rest of the pyre. With the gentle crackling noise of flames, the fire spread, and Ben stepped back to join the others, replacing the lightsaber onto his belt again. Together they stood, watching the flames burn the pyre and Rey's body to shreds, as the Jakku sun set on them and the Jedi Order.

/

Fett was the first to leave, about a half an hour later. He had a people to lead, he said, and things to do. "But you can be sure you'll be seeing me again, Solo," he said to Ben. Ben nodded in response. He was likely correct - while Fett wasn't Force sensitive by any means, the Force nevertheless seemed to favor him. Whatever came next for Ben, Fett would likely be involved, even if only in a small capacity. With the jangle of spurs he was gone, and a few moments later the _Slave I_ lifted off the desert sand and blasted off into the darkening sky.

Poe left next, stating the New Republic had a lot of work for him. Apparently, he was a soldier for them now, and his rank carried over. He hugged Finn and Chewie goodbye and shook hands with Rose and Lando. When he turned to Ben, he could see the distrust in the pilot's eyes. Ben didn't blame him for not trusting him; in fact he'd have doubted the man's sanity if he'd warmed up to him after only a few weeks of being on the same side. Poe didn't shake his hand, but he nodded respectfully. Then he turned and left, BB-8 following behind him after a whistle of farewell to everyone. He'd see them again, too, Ben thought as he watched the orange X-wing soar into the air and disappear in the distance. The droid had been close to Rey, so at the very least he probably would be less distrustful of Ben.

Everyone else except for him had come on the Falcon. He had, in fact, come in his own ship - his old _Upsilon_-class command shuttle, one of the few First Order ships to survive the Siege of Coruscant. He'd been allowed to keep it, though he no longer had a pilot, and while the blasters were kept any ordnance heavier than that was removed. Thankfully he could fly the ship himself. He realized, with a small amount of guilt, that he'd never even known the pilot's name, or even if he had had more than one pilot. Another mistake in a long list of mistakes he'd made. He also realized he'd never named the shuttle. Since it was his now, and his alone, that was probably something he should deal with at some point soon, but at the moment ship names weren't particularly important to him.

It was entirely dark by the time the Falcon crew began to head back to the ship. C-3PO and R2-D2 went first, with Threepio apologizing quietly but complaining about sand in his joints. He watched them go fondly; C-3PO was all he had left of his mother, and Artoo was a link between the entire Skywalker family. They were some of the only family he had left. Finn and Rose followed shortly after. Rose didn't look at him as she left, but Finn did, giving him a nod similar to Poe's, which Ben returned. Chewie then went a few minutes later, but not before giving Ben a hug seemingly out of nowhere, which was no small surprise to Ben. He returned it awkwardly as Lando laughed behind them, and then Chewie let go and left with a growl of farewell, leaving Ben and Lando alone.

An awkward silence hung between them, broken only by the crackling of the flames as they watched the pyre burn. Lando was the one to break it. "I'm sorry I didn't get to meet her," he said softly, referring to the woman whose body was now blackened ash, slowly drifting into the air. "Seems like she was a good kid." Ben nodded his agreement silently. He turned to look at Lando; he hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to the man since they stood together at the steps of the Temple, and he had no idea what to say. "I'm…" he began, wanting to apologize. For what, he didn't know exactly - for running away? For killing his friend? For all the atrocities he'd committed? But Lando cut him off with a shake of his head. "Don't say it," he said gently. "You don't have to." Ben looked at him gratefully, hoping his expression could get across what words could not, and Lando smiled in return. They turned back to the pyre for a bit longer.

"Where you heading next, kid?" Lando asked after a bit. "What's your plan from here?" Ben looked into the fire as he thought about the question. It was a good question, one he hadn't really thought about yet. In truth, he had no idea what he would do now. Nearly his entire life, his actions had been determined by someone else. Now, to be free of that, to be able to make his own decisions, was almost overwhelming. "What's _your_ plan?" Ben replied, avoiding having to answer the question. Lando noticed, but chose not to press for an answer, much to Ben's relief. "Well, first I was gonna drop Finn and Rose off wherever it is they wanna go," Lando said, "and then… I was thinking, with the Falcon back in my hands, maybe me and Chewie could start a shipping business or something. Try and do something without having to worry about getting shot at for once." Lando laughed, and Ben allowed himself a small grin.

Lando stopped laughing after a bit and looked over at Ben. "My offer still stands, you know. By all rights, Falcon should be yours." Lando had asked him this before, one of the few times they'd had a chance for a quick talk. Ben shook his head, like he had last time. "It's yours," Ben said. "More than it's mine. And it…" and it had too many painful memories, he wanted to say. Of Rey. Of his mother and father. But he didn't finish the sentence, letting it hang there in the air. Lando nodded, understanding in his eyes. He walked over to Ben and placed a hand on his shoulder gently. "Listen, kid. You ever need anything, you call me up, you hear? Me and Chewie will be there to help you out faster than lightspeed." Ben met Lando's eyes and nodded. With a quick smile, Lando removed his hand. "May the Force be with you," he said, and then he walked off towards the Falcon. "May the Force be with you," Ben echoed quietly as he watched the man leave. A couple minutes later, the Falcon lifted into the air and soared up into the sky, and Ben, finally, was alone, with his thoughts and the fire.

He didn't know how long he stood there, just watching the fire burn, letting the warmth wash over him, but it had to have been at least an hour since the Falcon left when Ben heard a voice speak out of the darkness. "Now this," said the voice, "was something I never thought I'd get to see again." The voice was male, deep and calm but wizened with age. Ben turned to the direction the voice came from to see an old man walk into the firelight. He was human, with light, wrinkled skin, green eyes, and silvery hair swept back from his forehead. He wore a brown leather sleeveless vest over a dark shirt, and dark pants. Over all this he wore a light tan cloak. On his back was a large lump, but since the man was facing the fire he couldn't tell if it was some sort of equipment pack or a physical deformity. He walked with a simple wooden cane, but he did not limp. He stopped walking a few feet away from Ben and turned to look at the fire. Ben looked at him in confusion. "Who are you?" he asked. The man laughed gently. "Straight to the point, aren't you?" he asked, shaking his head.

He was quiet for a moment longer, the fire reflected in his eyes. "It's been a long time since I've been on Jakku," he said finally. "Last time I was here, Rey was only a small child." Ben turned to the man, his eyes wide in realization. "You're her Jedi master," he said. It was more of a statement than a question. The man nodded. "Don't worry," he said as Ben began to speak again, "I won't affect the Balance you've achieved. My time is coming soon. Tonight, in fact." He turned back to the fire. "I only wanted to bid farewell to my student before I joined her." Ben turned back to the fire too, solemnly. "What's your name?" Ben tried after a moment. The man turned to look at him, but before he could say anything, the lump on his back moved. "Be-doop?" it said, and Ben realized, with mild surprise, that it was not a hunch or a backpack, but a droid. It looked sort of like a pair of white macrobinoculars with legs and antennae, and was somehow clinging to the man's back. The man grinned. "This is BD-1," he said, gesturing to the droid on his back. "As for me… my name is Cal Kestis." He gave Ben a knowing look. "And you're Ben Solo. Anakin Skywalker's grandson."

Ben turned quietly back to the fire at that, having no response, and so did Cal."How did she die?" Cal asked, his voice quiet and laced with sorrow. Ben told him the story: about Plagueis, and how Rey had helped him find balance and kill the Sith Lord, at the cost of her own life. The man nodded when the story was over. "I always knew she was destined for great things," he said with a sad smile. "I just wish I'd been there to see her do them."

A thought occurred to Ben then, and he turned to the man. "Why _did_ you leave Rey?" he asked, his voice taking on a slightly accusatory tone. Cal sighed then, and he seemed to grow exhausted suddenly, as if the question had taken all the energy from him. "I never meant to," he said after a moment. "I… well, long before I met Rey, I traveled with a small group of friends. In the end, we went our separate ways, for a variety of reasons, though we tried to keep in touch. I traveled around, until I came to Jakku and met Rey. She was four when I found her, orphaned and living off scraps. I took her in, and trained her and raised her as best I could. Soon after she turned nine, though, I sensed one of my friends call to me through the Force. She needed my help. So I left, fully intending to come back in a couple of days.

"I arrived just in time to save her from the trouble she'd landed in. We talked for a bit, caught up, like old friends do. I stayed with her a couple days, then planned to go back. But the night before I was going to head back to Jakku, I received a Force vision, the most powerful one I'd ever had. In it, everything was on fire, burning red. There was screaming, and a cackling laugh. And Rey was standing in the middle of all of it, grown up and looking helpless. There was more, too, but I've since forgotten or blocked it from my mind. The message was clear, however awful it was: I couldn't go back to Rey, or even see her again, or the galaxy would fall." Cal was silent for a long moment, gazing deeply into the fire, as if he could distinguish which ashes were from Rey's now completely disintegrated body. "It pained me beyond words to do it, not to mention it was confusing beyond words, but I did. I never returned to Jakku, until tonight. And now I see why I needed to. If I had gone back to Rey, and completed her training, she would have fully adopted the Jedi ideals as her own." He turned to Ben and met his gaze with a knowing look. "She would never even have considered what she told you to do. And so this Darth Plagueis would have won." His eyes held an even mixture of sorrow and pride. "Because I never finished her training, she was able to help save the galaxy."

They were silent for a while longer. BD-1, still on Kestis' back, shifted slightly, watching the fire burn. "I have something for you," Cal said suddenly. "Something you might find useful." He reached into his cloak, and pulled out a small, clear crystal, glowing with Force energy. "A kyber crystal," Ben breathed in surprise. Cal nodded. "I found it after I left Rey. It called out to me in the Force, but when I picked it up it remained clear. I thought - hoped, really - that that meant it was for Rey, that I would be able to see her again and help her make her own lightsaber, but…" he looked at the funeral pyre sadly. "I see now that it's meant for you," he finished, holding the crystal out for Ben to take. Wordlessly, Ben reached out and took it from the older man.

The moment it touched his hand, he felt it awaken in the Force as he claimed it as his own. With a gentle hum, the crystal changed color, turning a deep, glowing violet. BD-1 let out a whistle of curiosity and wonder. "Purple," Cal observed. "The color of balance." Ben looked at the crystal with interest for a few moments. Then placed it into his pocket. "Thank you," he said to the other man. Kestis nodded. "One more thing," he said. "I… well, I told you. I don't have much longer." He then gestured to BD-1, who had shifted to his left shoulder. "Beedee here is my last friend, and… well… I don't want to leave him on his own." He met Ben's gaze. "But i wouldn't mind leaving him with you. Besides, whatever you do next, it's always good to have a droid at your side." Beedee chirped his agreement. Ben was quiet for a moment. "Alright," he said after a moment.

Cal nodded his thanks, then turned to the droid on his shoulder. With a whistle, BD-1 climbed down, then scurried over to Ben and climbed onto his shoulder instead. Ben was a bit surprised at first, but let the droid stay there, as he wasn't particularly bothered by it. Cal smiled at the droid, and placed a hand on his head. "Take good care of him, ok, BD-1?" Beedee beeped an affirmative, and Cal's smile turned sad. "Farewell, old friend," he said. The droid crooned sadly in response. He turned his gaze to Ben. "May the Force be with you," he said. "Always." And then Cal Kestis turned quietly, and walked off into the desert night, never to be seen by anyone again. And Ben, once more, was alone with his thoughts. Mostly.

BD-1 let out another sad croon, and Ben turned quietly back to the funeral pyre. The fire was finally starting to die down, and Ben realized there was no reason left for him to stay here. Nor, did he think, did he want to come back to Jakku ever again. As he turned to leave, he thought about maybe saying something, as a sort of final farewell to Rey. But as he stood there, thinking, he realized he had nothing to say. "Come on, BD-1," he said to his new companion. With one last look at the ashes of the dying fire, he turned away, and headed back towards his waiting shuttle.

/

Three days later, and Ben was once more on a desert planet. This one, however, had two suns instead of one, and he was here on his own, to put one last thing to rest. He'd told BD-1 to stay in the ship; this was something he wanted - and needed - to do alone. Apparently Bedee understood that well - maybe Kestis had had similar experiences - because the droid didn't ask any questions or protest, just beeped an affirmative and got to work on running ship diagnostics.

They'd landed in Mos Eisley spaceport, and Ben had quickly rented a landspeeder and headed out into the desert. He'd done his best to keep a low profile, as he didn't feel like being stared at or swarmed, and was mostly successful. It helped he'd changed his clothes - he was now wearing robes almost identical to the robes he used to wear as Kylo Ren, with the exception of the sleeves and the color. Instead of black, the robe was a deep brown, and the sleeves, rather than being concentric rings of cloth ending in gloves, were more standard sleeves, with gloves that went up to just below the elbow, similar to the ones he'd word as Darth Ren but not armored. Between the different clothes, keeping his hood up, and a couple minor mind tricks, he successfully managed to disguise himself while he rented the speeder.

He hadn't asked for directions before he'd left - it was unlikely anyone would know about the place he wanted to go anyway - but he didn't need them, anyway; he let the Force guide him across the shifting sands of Tatooine. Eventually, as the twin suns, were beginning to set, he saw the first few moisture vaporators marking the edge of the property. They were dilapidated and rusty - no one had been here to take care of them in over thirty years. He slowed his speeder as he passed them, heading towards the homestead itself. A moment later, he stopped the speeder near the dwelling entrance and got out, looking at it with interest.

The Lars homestead was long abandoned, with much of its interior likely either destroyed or looted many times over. But the shell of it, the metal and sandstone, still stood, and the aura of the place within the Force remained. Ben gazed at the entrance dome of the dwelling with interest. This place was where his great grandmother was buried by his grandfather, and where his uncle had lived for his formative years, before he left to face the Empire. It, like R2-D2 and C-3PO, and like the lightsaber on his belt, were a line connecting the entire Skywalker family.

Ben drew the Skywalker lightsaber from his belt and held it almost reverently in his hand. He hadn't really thought about it until now, with everything else that had been on his mind. But now, he reached out in the Force and felt how much this saber had done. This blade had cut down droids, stormtroopers, Jedi and Sith alike. It had traveled across the galaxy many times over. It had fought in wars that determined the fate of the entire galaxy. And it had helped bring balance to the Force. And now, it was his. The last of the Skywalkers.

Lowering his hand, he looked over at the landspeeder behind him, and walked over to it. Sitting in the passenger seat, seeming to stare up at him, was the burnt, warped shell of Darth Vader's helmet. He picked it up with his free hand and looked at it, feeling like the empty eyeholes were piercing his soul. He'd almost worshipped this helmet for years, thinking of it as a conduit to his grandfather's spirit. He'd singlehandedly kept Vader's legacy alive even after it should have been gone. And now he was here to lay it to rest, the way he should have left it on Endor all those years ago.

As Ben turned away from the speeder, the helmet in one hand and the saber in the other, he suddenly felt a presence in the Force. It was strong, and grew stronger as he stood there, and he watched with surprise as a glowing blue figure appeared before him. It was a young man in Jedi robes, with wavy brown hair down to his shoulders, blue eyes, and a gentle smile on his face. He'd never seen this ghost before, but he recognized the Force signature. It was the same one that he'd felt on Dantooine. "Grandfather," Ben breathed in surprise. Anakin Skywalker smiled back at him. "Hello, Ben," he said, and Ben realized with a jolt he'd heard that voice before. It was the one he'd heard in his final duel with Plagueis, the one that hadn't been a memory.

"You've done it," Anakin said, a note of pride in his voice. "You've brought balance to the Force. You finished what me and Luke started." His smile grew. "I'm proud of you, Ben." Ben, just getting over his shock, did not respond, but he allowed himself to feel a small bit of warmth at his grandfather's words. "We all are," another male voice said, and now Luke was there, and then, beside him, Leia. Ben was overwhelmed. He just stared at them, all smiling at him with pride, and then he realized he was crying, tears coming down his face. "I'm sorry," he said, and he wasn't sure which one of them he was speaking to, just that he really was sorry, sorry for everything he'd done to them. "You don't need to apologize," his mother said, her smile gentle and comforting. "We already know. And you're already fixing your mistakes. There's nothing to apologize for." Ben finally reacted, giving his mother a small, grateful smile.

He looked around at them. He had so many things he wanted to say, so many things he wanted to ask, but as he looked at them he realized what he wanted to ask most. "Is… is dad…?" he asked, trailing off. It felt strange to call Han "dad" after so long, but also felt like it was what he was supposed to say. Leia's smile turned sad. "He wasn't Force sensitive," she said. "Only people who were Force sensitive, and had the right training, can manifest like this." Leia's eyes turned serious. "He forgave you too. You know he did." Ben nodded sadly. He'd still wanted to see him again, to apologize directly to him, but he knew his father forgave him. He didn't even ask about Rey. She certainly wouldn't have had the training necessary. Maybe it was for the best he didn't see either of them again; he needed to let those wounds heal.

He turned back to Anakin, who smiled at him again before shifting his gaze to the helmet in Ben's left hand. "I came here to bury it," Ben told him in explanation. "To put Vader's legacy to rest for good. To make sure it's forgotten." Luke laughed. "Oh, you don't want to bury it here," he joked. "My father doesn't like sand." Anakin shot him a look that didn't have much venom in it at all, and Ben got the feeling he was missing some sort of inside joke. His grandfather turned back to him. "I think you should keep it," he said abruptly. Ben looked at him in surprise. "Not every legacy should be forgotten," he continued, and Ben noticed a small part of his face seemed to be turning black and metallic, and his left eye had changed to resemble more of a lens. It was Vader's eye, Ben realized. The Dark Side was still part of Anakin. "Ended, maybe, but some you must remember, or you can't learn from them," Anakin continued. Ben could hear a quiet, deep voice similar to Vader's speaking at the same time as Anakin, barely noticeable. He extended his ghostly hands towards the helmet. "May I?" he asked. Ben looked at him, confused, but held out the helmet, unsure how Anakin would be able to hold it. To his surprise, however, when Anakin touched the helmet with his hands, he was able to actually touch and lift the helmet. He held it in both hands, looking at it intently. Ben wondered if it was strange for him to be seeing the helmet from the outside, after having worn it himself for the latter half of his life.

Anakin closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. As Ben watched, the helmet began to warp and shift, although it made little noise, only an occasional squeak of metal. After a few moments, the helmet stopped moving, and sitting in Anakin's hands was now a helmet almost identical to the one Ben had worn as Kylo Ren, although it was medium gray instead of black and silver, and it was really only a shell of a helmet, without a lens or any internal mechanisms. Anakin held the helmet back out to Ben. "I want you to take this," he said. Ben looked at him incredulously. "I can't wear this," he said. "It's… it represents so much pain." Anakin gave him a comforting smile. "You can wear it," he said, pressing it into Ben's free hand. "Let go of the pain, but remember what it taught you." He met Ben's eyes with his own. "If you distance yourself from your past, if you don't accept it, you can't learn from it. Carry its memory with you, and use it to do good in the galaxy. That's how you make sure Vader's legacy - the _Sith_'s legacy - doesn't stay alive, or return. By going against everything they stood for."

Anakin let go of the helmet, leaving it in Ben's hand, and he looked down at it for a moment before looking back up at the Force ghosts in front of him, and smiling at them. His grandfather, a man who had changed the course of galactic history twice, who was equal parts Jedi and Sith, who, like Ben, had spent his entire life letting someone else make choices for him, before making his own decision by sacrificing his life to fix the damage he'd caused. His uncle, who was a blinding beacon of light, who believed in compassion and redemption and had refused to give up on his father, saving him, and then refused to give up on Ben, even when he'd given up on himself. And his mother, who also had refused to give up on him, and had never stopped loving him even after he'd abandoned and rejected her. Each in their own way had helped to fulfill the prophecy of the Chosen One. The Chosen One wasn't one person, it was a family: the Skywalker family. And now, finally, the prophecy was fulfilled.

As Ben stood there, he realized, out of all his questions, only one needed to be asked. "What happens now?" he asked them. "Now that I'm free? What do I do?" Anakin smiled at him. "That's your choice to make," he said. "Like you said, you're free. You're not in anyone's shadow anymore. Where you go from here? That's up to you." Anakin reached out and placed a hand on Ben's shoulder, and Ben felt it. "But whatever you do, know we'll always be with you," Luke spoke up. Anakin stepped back, and Ben smiled at all three of them, and they smiled back. And then they faded back into the Force, with no sign they had ever been there, but Ben knew they weren't really gone. If he reached out far enough into the Force, he still felt their presences, and they would always be there for him. A part of him thought he didn't deserve that comfort, but he ignored that part of himself, and itgrew quiet.

Ben looked down at the helmet in his hand. He'd have to make a few modifications to it: it needed a lens, and all the internal devices his last one had, to make it more comfortable, and maybe a bit of paint. But he'd worry about all that later. He lifted the helmet up and placed it over his head, ignoring the slight discomfort, and drew his hood up over it. Then he looked down at the Skywalker lightsaber in his right hand. It was a symbol as much as it was a weapon: a reminder to him to always do what he knew was right, even if his emotions made him feel it was wrong. He gently returned it to his belt, on the left side. Then, from the right side of his belt, he drew his own lightsaber.

The handle was silver, like it had been before he'd turned to the dark side. The crossguards were still there, also silver, even though they were no longer strictly necessary, as the new purple crystal did not generate excess heat. The loose wires and gaps in the plating were also gone, giving the lightsaber a much less haphazard look; it no longer looked like a saber made by a child, which Ben thought was fitting, because he himself was certainly not a child anymore. Ben pressed the ignition switch, and with a _hiss_ the bright purple blade extended, followed a moment later by the secondary blades, casting its light onto Ben. Purple - the color of balance, and to Ben, a sign of his freedom.

And as Ben Skywalker lowered his saber and gazed off into the Tatooine sunset like his uncle had done in this same spot before him, he knew that whatever he did next, wherever he went, the Force would be with him.

Always.

**THE END**

**A/N: Well, here we are. At the end of the Skywalker Saga. Balance has finally been restored to the Force, the Jedi and Sith are both gone for good, and Ben Skywalker, last of the Skywalker line, is now free from anyone else's shadow or control, to forge his own path in the galaxy.**

**But, in Ben's own words, we're not done yet.**

**That's right, the Skywalker Saga may be over, but Ben's story is just getting started. And I will tell it in my **_**Star Wars: The Legacy Anthology**_ **series, so be on the lookout for that!**

**And yes, Rey's master was Cal Kestis. If you don't know who that is, he's the protagonist of Jedi: Fallen Order. And BD-1 is now Ben's companion, because a) he's cute and b) all Star Wars protagonists need a droid sidekick.**

**Thank you for bearing with me through this story, and I hope you enjoyed it! Be on the lookout for **_**Legacy**_**, and as always, may the Force be with you!**


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